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A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 
FROM 1897 TO 1916 



A HISTORY OF THE 

PRESIDENCY 

FROM 1897 TO 1916 



BY 



EDWARD STANWOOD, Litt.D. (Bowdoin) 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

1916 






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COPYRIGHT, I912 AND I916, BY EDWARD STANWOOD 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

Published October iqi2 

SECOND EDITION PUBLISHED 

September iqib 






CONTENTS 



CHAPTEE PAGE 

I. "Imperialism" the "Paramount" Issue 1 

II. Roosevelt's Election for a " Second Term " . . 77 

III. The Era of " Progressive " Insurgency . . . 141 

IV. The Republican Schism 214 

V. The Evolution of the Presidency .... 305 

Appendix 339 

Index . .373 



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A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

FROM 1897 TO 1916 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 

The election of 1896 restored to the Republican party the 
full control of the national government in all its departments. 
The situation during the second half of President Cleveland's 
second administration was abnormal and unsatisfactory, for the 
government was divided against itself to an unprecedented de- 
gree. The Senate was still controlled by the Democrats and 
their Populist allies, by the narrowest of majorities, and the 
President was a Democrat ; but the House of Representatives 
was Republican in the proportion of five of that party to two 
of the combined opposition. 1 Moreover, there was no real 
political accord between the Senate and the President. On the 
great issue of the times, the free and unlimited coinage of sil- 
ver, they were actively antagonistic ; and the closing chapter 
of the history of the Tariff Act of 1894 was still remembered 
by some leading Democratic senators, and the breach in their 
relations with Mr. Cleveland remained. 

In such circumstances no legislation having a savor of party 
politics could be passed. The President was forced to rely 
upon Republican aid to deal with the fiscal situation — a seri- 
ous deficit ; and that aid was given, although the President and 
the Republican leaders disputed almost angrily the cause of the 
depletion of the gold reserve. Mr. Cleveland was no defender 
of the Tariff Act of 1894 ; but he contended that it was not 
true that the repeated gold loans were rendered necessary, and 
were made, and that their proceeds were used, to meet the de- 
ficiency in the revenue. The Republicans, on the other hand, 

1 Fifty-fourth Congress. Senate, Democrats, 39; Populists, 6; Republi- 
cans, 44; one vacancy. House of Representatives, Republicans, 252; Demo- 
crats, 93; Populists, 8; Silver, 1; Fusion, 1 ; vacancies, 2. 



2 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

maintained that if the revenue had been sufficient the gold re- 
serve could not have been drawn upon as it was, and that 
consequently the loans would not have been necessary. 

The difficult situation was brought to an end when the new 
administration came into power. Congress was Republican in 
both branches, 1 and both the majority and the minority parties 
were more united than had been the case for a long time. The 
declaration in favor of free silver in the Democratic platform, 
and in favor of the single gold standard in that of the Repub- 
licans, in the canvass of 1896, caused a serious secession from 
each party, and the nominating conventions on both sides had 
therefore been careful to choose as candidates for seats in Con- 
gress men who could be relied upon to support the party policy 
on the great issue of the day. 

Nevertheless the silver question was not the sole issue in 
the canvass of 1896, and the importance of the tariff issue must 
not be overlooked. In the far Western States, where the sen- 
timent was almost unanimous in favor of free silver, the Repub- 
lican campaign was conducted on the issue of Protection, as 
against the Wilson-Gorman tariff, and its free wool feature. 
It was not a successful campaign, so far as electoral votes were 
concerned, but it served to preserve a nucleus around which the 
temporary deserters clustered, at the next election. 

On the other side of the political fence the situation was 
different. Many thousands of "Old line" Democrats voted 
for Mr. McKinley because of their opposition to free silver 
and the other radical policies championed by Mr. Bryan, and in 
spite of their only less serious objection to a protective tariff 
of which, in popular opinion, Mr. McKinley was the protag- 
onist. Others, who could not forego that objection, voted for 
General Palmer. No Democrat of either of the classes opposed 
to Mr. Bryan was elected to Congress. But in the country, and 
in a certain portion of the press, the dissentient Democratic 
opinion made itself felt. It was urged, of course without avail, 
that the election had decided primarily that the people desired 
the establishment of the single gold standard of money, and only 
secondarily, if at all, that they were in favor of a protective 
tariff. Those who took that view maintained, accordingly, that 

1 Fifty-fifth Congress. Senate, Republicans, 46; Democrats, 34; Populists, 
5; Independents, 3; Silver party, 2. House of Representatives, Republicans, 
202; Democrats, 130; Populists^ 21; Silver party, 3; Fusion, 1. Two of the 
Independents in the Senate usually acted with the Republicans. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 3 

the reformation of the currency system was the first duty of 
Congress and of the President, and they denounced the reversal 
of the programme as a virtual betrayal of the people whose man- 
date they had received. 

Mr. McKinley made it evident in his inaugural address that 
he regarded a revision of the tariff as the immediate duty of 
the hour. Undoubtedly he personally deemed it of greater im- 
portance than the reform of the money system. But that is to 
be inferred rather from his speeches in Congress and as a can- 
didate for the presidency than from his language at his in- 
auguration. Indeed, his attitude toward the silver question 
was somewhat timid. He still spoke of keeping silver at parity 
with gold. But as for the tariff he was decided. " The people/' 
he said, " have decided that such legislation should be had as 
will give ample protection and encouragement to the industries 
and development of our country. It is therefore earnestly hoped 
and expected that Congress will, at the earliest practicable mo- 
ment, enact revenue legislation that shall be fair, reasonable, 
conservative, and just, and which, while supplying sufficient 
revenue for public purposes, will still be signally beneficial and 
helpful to every section and every enterprise of the people." 
He discussed the existing financial system, referred to the 
succession of annual deficits, assumed, without making an un- 
necessary argument upon the subject, that expenditures should 
be met by revenue rather than by loans, and set forth his 
opinion on the general question by remarking that " with ade- 
quate revenue secured, but not until then, we can enter upon 
changes in our fiscal laws." 

Undoubtedly, in thus placing tariff revision first on his pro- 
gramme, he was in accord with the great majority of his sup- 
porters both in Congress and in the country at large. But 
there were two excellent reasons, from a practical point of 
view, why his preference was natural and wise. An attempt 
to establish the gold standard during the first half of Mr. 
McKinley's term would have been foredoomed to failure. The 
House of Representatives of the Fifty-fifth Congress was 
strongly anti-silver. If the question had been brought to a 
test it is doubtful if any Republican member of that body 
would have voted for free silver. But in the Senate it was 
different. As has been noted, there were 46 Republican sen- 
ators, and 44 of the combined opposition, every member of 
which was a declared advocate of free silver. Four of the Re- 



4 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

publicans were also determined advocates of the measure, be- 
side two other senators who supported it conditionally. It 
would have been most unwise to submit a gold-standard bill 
to a Senate so constituted. Indeed, it soon appeared that the 
silver senators practically held the balance of power, and were 
resolved to make their own power felt. 

The other reason for the preference of the tariff question 
over the currency question — if the reason just given had not 
been all-powerful — was the fact that the way had already 
been prepared for immediate action upon it. In anticipation 
of that which actually occurred, the Committee on Ways and 
Means of the Fifty-fourth Congress had for months been pre- 
paring a tariff bill. Protracted hearings were held, and a great 
amount of testimony was taken, no doubt with an understand- 
ing between the Committee and Mr. McKinley that an ex- 
traordinary session of Congress would be held almost immedi- 
ately after the inauguration. On the 6th of March the President 
issued a proclamation summoning the Fifty-fifth Congress to 
meet on the 15th of the same month. At the beginning of the 
session he sent a message on the subject of the deficiency in 
the revenues of the government, and urged the speedy pass- 
age of a tariff act. All the Republican members of the Ways 
and Means Committee had been reelected, and Mr. Speaker 
Reed 1 reappointed them on the committee. The bill was 
practically ready, and on the 19th it was reported to the 
House. 

The modern practice of the House of Representatives in 
dealing with measures which are both complicated and of a 
partisan character, is to curb and limit actual debate by means 
of special rules. In this case the Committee on Rules brought 
in a resolution that the bill should be taken up for considera- 
tion on March 22; that "general debate" should continue for 
four days; that from March 26 the bill should be open to 
amendment in Committee of the Whole, — amendments pro- 
posed by the Committee on Ways and Means to have the pre- 
ference; and that on March 31 at three o'clock the House 
should come to a final vote on the passage of the bill. A course 
of action precisely similar was laid out by the Committee on 
Rules of the Fifty-third Congress, when the Wilson tariff bill 
was brought in, in 1894, but the time allowed for proposing 

1 Reelected Speaker by 199 votes, to 114 for Mr. Bailey of Texas, 21 for 
Mr. Bell of Colorado, and 1 for Mr. Newlands of Nevada. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 5 

and discussing amendments was longer. In neither case was 
the privilege of presenting amendments of the slightest benefit 
to the opposition, for the obvious reason that every such 
amendment, however meritorious, was certain to be rejected. 

There is much to be said both for and against such a method 
of procedure. The traditional practice of parliamentary bodies 
is violated in a fundamental principle by a system which for- 
bids a detailed examination of a revenue measure. The rights 
of the minority are practically abrogated, since they are con- 
ceded in such a restricted form that they are ineffective. The 
body which passes upon the measures before it under such 
rules has really ceased to be a deliberative body. The meas- 
ures are drawn by a committee, or rather by the majorit}' of a 
committee, and are virtually unamendable save by the consent 
of those members of the committee. Should any amendment 
not acceptable to them be agreed to in a snap division in com- 
mittee of the whole, they are usually if not invariably able to 
reverse the decision when the bill is reported to the House. 

On the other hand, experience has shown that the choice is 
not between this system and the former one, if a tariff bill is 
to be passed, but between the new system and failure to pass 
the bill. The House of Representatives is almost twice as num- 
erous a body as it was when Clay brought in his compromise 
tariff bill, and there are probably more than five times as 
many talking members now as there were then. At the same 
time the volume of business to be transacted has certainly in- 
creased tenfold. If, then, a tariff bill were to be thrown open 
to detailed discussion, paragraph by paragraph, and article by 
article, it would not be possible to pass it even through the 
House of Representatives at a single session. It is also a per- 
tinent suggestion that on such a subject as the tariff every 
member's mind is made up before consideration of the bill be- 
gins, that no member expects by his eloquence to influence 
the action of any fellow member, and therefore debate is 
wasted, so far as the theoretical purpose of debate is concerned. 
Moreover, a tariff measure is to be considered as a whole, not 
acceptable in every detail to any member, not to be rendered 
acceptable to any opponent of the protection or free trade prin- 
ciple on which it may be based, by one or a dozen amend- 
ments. Consequently every hostile amendment is sure to be 
rejected. Finally, as the only practical purpose of debate in 
the House of Representatives is to influence public opinion 



6 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

outside, that purpose may be and is accomplished quite as well 
by the general "leave to print" undelivered speeches in the 
" Congressional Record," as by giving up time to their de- 
livery. These arguments have been convincing to both the 
great parties in the country, and the practice of cutting off de- 
bate is so well established and has been so useful that it is 
not likely to be abandoned. 

The programme prepared by the Committee on Rules was 
adopted by the House and strictly carried out. " General de- 
bate" was exceedingly general, being chiefly discussion of the 
vast benefits and the unrelieved wickedness of the protective 
system. More than half the time allowed for amendments was 
occupied in the consideration of changes proposed by the 
Committee on Ways and Means, and the opposition had no 
opportunity to discuss anything but the first schedule, devoted 
to chemicals, and a few paragraphs of the glass schedule. One 
important amendment, designed to levy the duties to be im- 
posed by the bill on goods purchased and hurried into the 
country before the act should take effect, was adopted by the 
Committee of the Whole, but was thrown out by the House 
on the ground that, being retroactive, it was probably unconsti- 
tutional. An attempt was made to put on the free list articles 
the domestic production of which was controlled by " trusts," 
but the motion was defeated, yeas 148, nays 197. The bill 
was then passed, yeas 205, nays 122. Five Democrats voted 
for the bill ; three Populists only voted against it. The others, 
21 in number, answered " present." 

The history of the bill in the Senate was remarkable. As it 
passed the House of Representatives it established duties ap- 
preciably lower than those imposed by the McKinley act of 
1890. The Finance Committee of the Senate deemed even 
that scale of duties too high, and Mr. Aldrich, in explaining 
the action of the committee in proposing further reductions, 
urged that protection should be given in a moderate and con- 
servative spirit, in order to " insure a much greater degree of 
permanence to our tariff legislation." But that policy was 
not to prevail. The " Silver Republicans " were among the 
most radical protectionists in the Senate, and they soon found 
that they held the balance of power. Indeed Mr. Jones of 
Nevada, one of them, could control the action of the Commit- 
tee on Finance by giving his vote either with the six Repub- 
licans or with the six Democrats. In these circumstances the 



"IMPERIALISM" THE « PAR AMOUNT "ISSUE 7 

Republicans both in the committee and in the Senate were 
forced to make concessions to the Silver men, with the result 
that the original policy of the committee was overthrown, the 
committee itself withdrew amendments reducing duties and of- 
fered others increasing them, and the Senate was compelled to 
agree in order to save the bill. Mr. Aldrich, whose health was 
greatly impaired by work and worry, retired from the man- 
agement of the bill, — not unwillingly, in all probability, — 
withdrew to his home, and returned only on the day the meas- 
ure was put on its passage. The vote was taken on July 7, 
and the bill was passed by yeas 38, nays 28. One Democrat 
voted for it, six Populist and Silver senators withheld their 
votes. In conference duties were raised in some cases higher 
than they had been placed by either the House or the Senate. 
The bill was signed by President McKinley on July 14. Thus 
was enacted the Dingley tariff, which was destined to remain 
in force for a longer period than any other tariff act in the his- 
tory of the government. For save for the imposition of some 
duties as a measure of war finance, during the Spanish war — 
duties which were removed after peace was restored — the act 
was unchanged until it was superseded by the tariff of 1909. 

Silver had been chosen by the Democrats as the " para- 
mount " issue in 1896, but a question of vastly greater and more 
permanent importance was soon to be introduced. Events were 
already preparing for a contest which was to change for all 
time the position of the United States in the family of nations. 
Washington's injunction against the formation of " entangling 
alliances " with other nations had always been popularly and 
even officially interpreted as advice to hold aloof from interna- 
tional politics in any form. The Monroe Doctrine was not 
merely an assertion of a certain guardianship over the other 
American republics, to the extent of protecting them against 
European aggression, but it was also an expression of an inten- 
tion to discharge that self-assumed duty alone, without asking 
or permitting assistance. The only instance where there was 
any departure from that attitude was in the case of the Clay- 
ton-Bulwer treaty, which postponed rather than promoted the 
building of an isthmian canal, and which many secretaries of 
state tried in vain to abrogate. 

That the attitude of national isolation was in many respects 
beneficial to the United States, admits of no dispute. Interfer- 
ing in no controversies in which it was not directly concerned, 



8 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

it had no fear of interference or aggression by other nations, and 
was thus enabled to dispense with a great army and navy. In 
other ways that need not be specified it profited by its exemp- 
tion from the duties and the tasks which other governments, from 
choice or from necessity, were performing. 

But in another aspect of the matter the course of the govern- 
ment was not admirable. Students of history know that out of 
the original chaos of society, peace, order and law have been 
established. In enlightened communities every member has a 
duty to contribute his share to the maintenance of a system 
which assures protection of life and property to all, and which 
punishes malefactors and mischief-makers. Just so a commun- 
ity of nations has been gradually evolving, by no means perfect 
as yet, which more and more tends to concerted action for the 
preservation of peace, and to the curbing of reckless and aggress- 
ive sovereigns and peoples. If the citizen who refuses to bear 
his part in maintaining social order and in the support of good 
government is deemed unfaithful, what is to be said of a nation, 
boasting itself to be the freest in the world, which sends mess- 
ages of encouragement to every band of insurgents in the world, 
on the plea that they are fighting for liberty, but which never 
lifts a finger to compose international quarrels, to help a weak 
neighbor attacked by an arrogant prince, or to punish violations 
of international justice ? That was practically the position of 
the United States before it was awakened to the conviction 
that to be great and powerful and rich imposed upon it the 
duty to join with other nations in maintaining the peace of the 
world. The people had no idea that impending events were to 
plunge the country into world-politics and to enforce a changed 
relation of their government toward other powers. But both 
parties were equally responsible for the course of action which 
brought about that result. 

The geographical position of the Island of Cuba, the western 
end of which penetrates the Gulf of Mexico only a few miles 
from the Florida coast, has made it always an object of interest, 
and frequently of apprehension or annoyance, to the govern- 
ment of the United States. There was a fear, during the ad- 
ministration of Mr. Monroe, that Great Britain had a design 
to acquire the island from Spain. Mr. Adams, then Secretary 
of State, wrote to Mr. Nelson, the minister to Madrid, that 
the transfer " would be an event unpropitious to the interests 
of this Union" ; and that "it is scarcely possible to resist the 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 9 

conviction that the annexation of Cuba to our Federal Repub- 
lic will be indispensable to the continuance and integrity of 
the Union itself." Jefferson shared this view to the full ex- 
tent, for about the same time he wrote to Monroe that "its 
possession by Great Britain would indeed be a great calamity 
to us," and that "her addition to our confederacy is exactly 
what is wanted to round out our power as a nation to the point 
of its utmost interest." 

For many years, indeed until the crisis came in the last 
decade of the eighteenth century, the chief interest of the 
United States in Cuba may be likened to that of a landowner 
who is put to trouble and expense in preventing his unruly 
boys from helping the sons of a neighbor to turn him out of 
his property. To be sure, during the period when the slavery 
question was at its most acute stage, the " Ostend Manifesto " 
of 1854, — declaring the right of the United States to compel 
Spain to sell the island to this country, or, on a refusal to sell 
it, to wrest it from Spain by force, — was intended as a move 
preliminary to the acquisition of more slave territory. But in 
the main the government maintained a correct diplomatic atti- 
tude, and it did not fail to take measures to prevent aid being 
sent from its ports to the frequent and prolonged insurrections. 
Such measures were not always effectual, but the United States 
was the sufferer when that was the case. The incident of the 
Virginius, during the ten years' war from 1868 to 1878, was 
an instance in point. 

A fresh insurrection broke out in 1895. It was different in 
method from any one which had preceded it, and more strongly 
supported by the Cubans, although the people of the United 
States were slow to perceive the differences. The insurgents 
overran almost the whole island, and audaciously approached 
even to the outskirts of Havana. They avoided engagements 
with large bodies of Spanish troops, but waged a successful 
guerilla warfare. They also set up the semblance of a govern- 
ment. From the very beginning Cuba was in a state little 
better than anarchy. Such a condition was intolerable to the 
United States. Aside from the horrors of the situation, — the 
destruction of life and property, — this country had a most 
material interest in the struggle. American citizens were seized 
and thrown into prison by the Spanish authorities, and the 
sugar plantations which were devastated and burned over by 
the insurgent bands were largely owned by Americans. Pres- 



10 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

ident Cleveland, in his last annual message, in December, 1896, 
estimated the American investments in Cuba at from thirty to 
fifty millions. 

This is not the place to give an account of the progress of 
the rebellion, nor to mention in detail the steps, marked by 
relentless cruelty, taken by Spain to put down the rebellion. 
There were in all about one hundred and fifty thousand Span- 
ish troops in the island, but although they vastly outnumbered 
the insurrectionary forces, they were badly led and made but 
little headway. 

The insurrection attracted but little attention in the United 
States at first. To a large number of the people it seemed 
only another rising, not essentially unlike, or more important 
than, the scores of revolutions which have been a feature of 
the history of all the republics of Latin America. It was to 
them a trial, an annoyance, like that which a peaceable house- 
holder experiences when a noisy and bloody quarrel is going on 
in the next house, — something to be endured with patience 
but without interference until peace should be restored. Many 
men held this opinion to the end, and rejected every suggestion 
that in the interest of humanity, and of a quiet neighborhood, 
the disturbance must be stopped. But the great body of the 
people, of every shade of political opinion, was swept off its 
feet in a burst of enthusiastic determination that the evil 
should be endured no longer. 

The growing interest in the struggle and the change in the 
popular temper are reflected in the oificial papers of the pres- 
idents. In December, 1895, Mr. Cleveland recognized the sym- 
pathy of his countrymen with the insurgents, but urged that 
however ardent that feeling might be it should not deter the 
government from performing scrupulously its duty to a friendly 
power by preventing any hostile acts by its own citizens. The 
tone of his message in December, 1896, was not markedly dif- 
ferent, but it contained some expressions which would have 
been inconsistent with the message of the preceding year. He 
discussed the situation in Cuba at great length, and in a spirit 
friendly to Spain, and examined, only to reject, the suggestion 
of forcible intervention. Nevertheless he added, at the conclu- 
sion " That it cannot be reasonably assumed that the hitherto 
expectant attitude of the United States will be indefinitely 
maintained," and that, "while we are anxious to accord all 
due respect to the sovereignty of Spain, we cannot view the 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 11 

pending conflict in all its features, and properly apprehend our 
inevitably close relations to it and its possible results, without 
considering that by the course of events we may be drawn into 
such an unusual and unprecedented condition as will fix a limit 
to our patient waiting for Spain to end the contest either alone 
and in her own way or with our friendly cooperation." 

The Cuban question occupied a large part of the time of the 
Fifty -fourth Congress, — the last of Mr. Cleveland's second term. 
There was a minority, not a large but an aggressive minority, 
which desired the immediate recognition of Cuban independ- 
ence; there were many others who wished to accord belliger- 
ent rights to the insurgents. Including those two classes there 
was a large majority of members of both Houses who wished that 
something should be done to show the impatience of the Amer- 
ican people at the situation. At the first session, after a pro- 
tracted debate, a concurrent resolution was passed 1 after un- 
dergoing many changes, both in purport and in phraseology, 
declaring that a state of war existed in Cuba, that the United 
States would observe strict neutrality, and that the President 
should offer the good offices of the United States to secure the 
independence of Cuba. The form of a " concurrent resolution " 
was chosen because it did not require that the resolution should 
be submitted to the President for his approval as a " joint res- 
olution " must have been. The President's attitude was well 
known. He took no action in accordance with the advice of 
Congress at the time. Later in the year he did take a step in 
that direction. 2 His unwillingness to do anything that would 
permit the Spanish government to suppose that the United 
States government was in sympathy with the movement for 
forcible intervention, was severely criticised, by members of 
his own party more than by Republicans ; for those who were 
most determined upon a conservative course at this time were 
chiefly Republicans. The judgment of history will be that Mr. 
Cleveland's course was wise. It was something more than that, 
from a political point of view. It was eminently considerate, in 

1 Passed by the Senate, February 28, by yeas 64, nays 6; by the House of 
Representatives, March 2, by yeas 262, nays 17; conference report agreed to 
by the House, April 6, by yeas 247, nays 27; by the Senate without a division. 

2 "It was intimated by this government to the government of Spain some 
months ago that if a satisfactory measure of home rule were tendered to the 
Cuban insurgents and would be accepted by them upon a guaranty of its ex- 
ecution, the United States would endeavor to find a way not objectionable to 
Spain of furnishing such a guaranty." President's Message, December, 1896. 



12 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

that it was precisely the course which was likely to be least 
embarrassing to his successor in office. 

When the second session of the Fifty-fourth Congress began, 
in December, 1896, numerous resolutions were introduced de- 
manding that the independence of Cuba be immediately recog- 
nized. On the 19th of that month, Mr. Olney, the Secretary of 
State, caused it to be stated in the public press that the power 
and the right to recognize foreign governments was vested ex- 
clusively in the President. That contention was hotly disputed 
by the more radical advocates of Cuban independence. Early in 
January Senator Eugene Hale, of Maine, presented an ex- 
haustive historical memorandum which sustained the admin- 
istration in its position on that point. He also introduced, 
January 6, a resolution, which was passed, calling on the Secre- 
tary of State for a report on the precedents covering the matter 
of recognition of a foreign government. 1 On the following day 
Mr. Mills of Texas offered a resolution, which was subsequently 
debated but never acted upon, asserting that the expediency of 
such recognition belongs to Congress; that when Congress should 
determine in favor of recognition the executive should act in 
harmony with the legislative department ; and " that the inde- 
pendence of Cuba ought to be and hereby is recognized." The 
resolution throws light upon the political situation in the clos- 
ing months of Mr. Cleveland's administration. Hardly at any 
other time in the history of the country would a leading sen- 
ator, in full and regular standing in his party, have urged a 
resolution making such a direct and aggressive attack upon a 
position held by the president chosen by that party. But, as is 
well known, the convention and the election of 1896 had left 
a breach between the President and the controlling wing of the 
Democratic party that was almost as wide as that between the 
Democrats and the Republicans. 

Both the great parties of the country, meanwhile, had ex- 
pressed themselves strongly in their national platforms on the 
subject of Cuba. The Democrats merely expressed their hearty 
sympathy with the Cubans in their struggle for independence. 
The Republicans went further, and concluded their resolution 
on the subject by urging that the government " should actively 
use its influence and good offices to restore peace and give inde- 
pendence to the island." It would not be true, nevertheless, 
to say that these expressions represented a unanimous wish of 
« l It does not appear that the inquiry was ever answered. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 13 

the people. There were still many men in public and private 
life who held that the contest was one in which it was per- 
mitted to all citizens to feel a deep sympathy with the insurg- 
ents and horror at the cruelties of the Spanish administration ; 
but that as a government the United States had neither a duty 
nor a right to dictate to Spain how it should deal with a col- 
ony in revolt. But these men did not undertake to prevent 
the adoption of the resolutions of sympathy by the national 
conventions. 

The attitude of Mr. McKinley on the Cuban question was 
not noticeably different from that of Mr. Cleveland. His in- 
structions to Mr. Woodford, the new minister to Spain, were 
conservative and conciliatory. He was " to impress upon that 
government the sincere wish of the United States to lend its 
aid toward the ending of the war in Cuba by reaching a peace- 
ful and lasting result, just and honorable alike to Spain and to 
the Cuban people," and was to represent " that at this juncture 
our government was constrained to seriously inquire if the time 
was not ripe when Spain, of her own volition, moved by her 
own interests and every sentiment of humanity, should put a 
stop to this destructive war, and make proposals of settlement 
honorable to herself and just to her Cuban colony." * General 
Woodford, acting upon these instructions, had the good fortune 
to deal with Senor Sagasta, the new Prime Minister of Spain, 
who succeeded Senor Canovas, who was assassinated in August, 
1897. The new Spanish government was certainly better dis- 
posed toward Cuba and toward the United States than that 
which preceded it. The suggestions were received in an amica- 
ble spirit. The government did recall General Weyler, the 
governor-general of Cuba, whose administration had been ex- 
tremely cruel, particularly in the policy of removing the entire 
population from their rural homes and concentrating them in 
the cities and in camps. It also decreed the establishment of 
a local home rule government, and released all the Americans 
who had been in confinement. But it did not relax or propose 
to relax any military measures against the insurgents in arms 
who, in turn, spurned any concessions short of complete inde- 
pendence. In effect, therefore, the situation was unchanged. 
The war continued. The Spanish government was unable, as 
it had been from the beginning, to pacify Cuba. 

The crisis was approaching. Two events in the month of 
i Message of December, 1897. 



14 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

February, 1898, had a most profound effect upon the people 
of the United States. On the 9th a private letter by Seiior De 
Lome, the Spanish minister at Washington, was made public, 
in which he characterized the President as " w r eak and yielding 
to the rabble,' 7 and as a "bad politician. " He was at once 
recalled, and his sentiments were disavowed by the Spanish 
government; but the people were in a mood to be absolutely 
distrustful of the Spanish government. On the 10th, in con- 
sequence of this disclosure, Mr. Cannon of Illinois, since 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, introduced a resolu- 
tion urging the sending of an ultimatum to Spain, and a rec- 
ognition of the independence of Cuba before the 4th of March. 

But that incident created a mere flurry of popular excite- 
ment in comparison with the startling event which took place 
on the evening of February 15. The battleship Maine arrived 
in the port of Havana on January 25. It was sent thither after 
consultation with the Spanish government, and with the full 
consent of that government, as a mark of friendliness and good 
will. On the night of February 15 it was blown up in Havana 
harbor, and sunk, and two officers and 264 of the crew per- 
ished, as a result of the catastrophe. A court of inquiry was 
instituted, which reported that the " effect could have been 
produced only by the explosion of a mine situated under the 
bottom of the ship." 

On the whole the people of the United States received the 
intelligence of the dreadful disaster with horror rather than 
with indignation. They waited, without a general prejudge- 
ment against Spain as the author of the calamity, until the 
facts should be known. But it had already become clear that 
there was a dire prospect that forcible intervention, which 
meant war, must ensue before the questions at issue were de- 
cided ; and Congress was prompt to take precautions against 
that event. On March 8 the House of Representatives by a 
unanimous vote, yeas 311, nays none, passed a bill containing 
an appropriation of fifty million dollars for national defence, 
to be at the disposal of the President, and the Senate passed 
the bill on the next day, without change or debate, and with 
equal unanimity. The President communicated the facts re- 
garding the destruction of the Maine and the finding of the 
court, in a message to Congress on March 28. The affair made 
a deep impression upon the minds of the people and greatly 
intensified the feeling that intervention in Cuba could not, 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 15 

and should not, be long delayed. That feeling was rather in- 
creased than allayed by the fact that the Spanish government 
made an inquiry of its own, the result of which was a finding 
that the explosion which caused the destruction of the battle- 
ship was from the inside, that there were no mines in Havana 
harbor, and that no responsibility for the disaster rested on 
Spain or Spaniards. 

Meantime public sentiment hostile to Spain was still further 
augmented both in volume and in intensity, by a speech made 
in the Senate on March 17, by Senator Proctor of Vermont. 
Mr. Proctor had lately returned from Cuba where he had 
made extensive observations of conditions. In particular he had 
studied the results of the Spanish treatment of the peasantry. 
He gave a harrowing account of the desolation and distress 
caused by the cruel policy of concentration, and estimated the 
loss of life during the three years of anarchy at several hun- 
dred thousand. In a short time the demand for action on the 
part of the United States to put an end to the disturbance by 
removing its cause, became overwhelming. In the popular 
view the only possible remedy was the absolute abandonment 
of Cuba by Spain. 

The tension that existed between the two governments at 
this time is illustrated by another incident. Early in March the 
Spanish minister at Washington asked that the Consul-General 
at Havana, General Fitzhugh Lee, be recalled, and that mer- 
chant vessels should be substituted for the naval vessels that 
were carrying relief to the distressed people of Cuba. Both re- 
quests were denied, and were not pressed. 

On March 23 General Woodford presented to the Spanish 
Minister of Foreign Affairs a formal statement to the effect 
that unless an agreement ensuring immediate and honorable 
peace in Cuba were reached within a short time, the President 
would be constrained to submit to the consideration of Con- 
gress the whole question of the relations between the United 
States and Spain, including the affair of the Maine. The Span- 
ish Minister replied on the 25th, asking that the report on the 
Maine should not be sent to Congress, and that the question 
of the future of Cuba should be left to diplomacy. General 
Woodford asked if Spain would grant an armistice, meantime. 
The answer of Spain to these latest propositions was received 
on April 1. It was thoroughly unsatisfactory. Although pa- 
cific in tone it contained nothing more than promises to con- 



16 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

sider the questions at issue at a future time. Spain would not 
object to an armistice if it were asked for by the insurgents — 
an impossible condition as was well known by both parties to 
the controversy. As for the question of the future relations 
between Spain and Cuba, that was to be committed to the 
consideration of the courts, which would not assemble until 
May. 

From the time when this reply of Spain was made public, 
war was inevitable, although the fact was not fully perceived 
or universally admitted. The President did not abandon hope. 
The pressure upon him to act instantly and vigorously, was 
tremendous. It came from both sides of the Senate and House, 
and from most of the newspapers of the country. But he ap- 
pealed to those who were demanding importunately that he 
should act at once, to permit him to work out the matter in 
his own way without interference. To a certain extent they 
complied with his request, for a time. In his desire to avoid 
war he was stoutly supported by a group of senators, 1 all of 
them, it is believed, members of the Republican party. 

The imminence of war had by this time attracted the notice 
of the European governments. The Pope made a proposition 
to some of the powers that they should unite in a movement 
for mediation between the United States and Spain. The at- 
tempt failed. It is not known precisely what attitude was taken 
by the several powers, but it is known that Great Britain re- 
fused to be a party to the movement, a refusal which alone 
was fatal to it ; and the United States was averse to it, which, 
also, if the powers had come to an agreement, would have in- 
sured its failure. But on the 7th of April a deputation of the 
diplomatic representatives of foreign governments in Washing- 
ton, called upon the President, and through Sir Julian Paunce- 
fote, the British minister, expressed their hope that a peace- 
ful solution of the difficulty would be reached. The President 
made a judicious and non-committal but pacific reply, and 
that was the end of foreign mediation. 

The situation was now that which the President had in- 
formed the Spanish government would constrain him to sub- 
mit to Congress the whole question of the relations between 
the two countries. But he still hesitated, and delayed carrying 
out his announced purpose. Fearing that in the excited state 

1 Among them were Senators Allison, Aldrich, Fairbanks, Hale, Hanna, 
Piatt of Connecticut, and Spooner. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 17 

of public feeling insults and possibly physical injury would 
be suffered by his countrymen in Cuba, the President recalled 
Consul-General Lee, on April 5, and directed him to bring to 
the United States with him all American citizens who desired 
to return. Even after they had left Havana he withheld his 
message. The chances of peace and war seemed to vary from 
day to day. The Spanish ministry, urged thereto by the for- 
eign ambassadors in Madrid, decided on April 9 to grant an 
armistice to the Cuban insurgents, but took no step toward an 
agreement with the United States on the subject of the future 
control of Cuba, which was regarded at Washington as an in- 
dispensable part of a settlement. The government also caused 
it to be published that it had reached the limit of concessions 
to the United States. It therefore only remained for the Pres- 
ident to submit the whole matter to Congress. This he did in a 
message to the two Houses on April 11. 

Having given a summary account of the negotiations, he 
remarked, referring to the answer given to General Woodford 
to his ultimatum, " with this last overture in the direction of 
immediate peace, and its disappointing reception by Spain, the 
Executive is brought to the end of his effort." He assigned 
four reasons why intervention to restore peace was justifiable : 
intervention was demanded in the interest of humanity, and 
it. was "no answer to say this is all in another country, be- 
longing to another nation, and is therefore none of our busi- 
ness," for " it is right at our door " ; it was required for the 
protection of American citizens and property in Cuba ; it was 
justified by the injury to American commerce and business ; 
and " the present condition of affairs in Cuba is a constant 
menace to our peace, and entails upon this government an 
enormous expense." The most pregnant passage in the mess- 
age is the following paragraphs : — 

The long trial has proved that the object for which Spain has 
waged the war, cannot be attained. The fire of insurrection may 
flame or may smoulder with varying seasons, but it has not been 
and it is plain that it cannot be extinguished by present methods. 
The only hope of relief and repose from a condition which can be 
no longer endured is the enforced pacification of Cuba. In the 
name of humanity, in the name of civilization, in behalf of en- 
dangered American interests which give us the right and the duty 
to speak and to act, the war in Cuba must stop. 

In view of these facts and of these considerations I ask the Con- 



18 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

gress to authorize and empower the President to take measures 
to secure in the island the establishment of a stable government, 
capable of maintaining order and observing its international obliga- 
tions, insuring peace and tranquillity and the security of its citi- 
zens as well as our own, and to use the military and naval forces 
of the United States as may be necessary for these purposes. 

On the 13th of April the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 
the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Foreign 
Relations of the Senate, each reported a preamble and resolu- 
tions on the subject of Cuba. The debate proceeded simultan- 
eously in both branches. The House resolution — the pream- 
ble and that of the Senate were similar in tone — was as 
follows : — 

That the President is hereby authorized and directed to inter- 
vene at once to stop the war in Cuba, to the end and with the pur- 
pose of securing permanent peace and order there and establishing 
by the free action of the people thereof a stable and independent 
government of their own in the island of Cuba. And the Pres- 
ident is hereby authorized and empowered to use the land and 
naval forces of the United States to execute the purpose of this 
resolution. 

The Democratic members of the committee, representing the 
universal sentiment within their party that there should be no in- 
tervention without recognizing the insurgent government of Cuba, 
proposed a substitute for the foregoing resolution, namely : — 

Section 1. That the United States government hereby recog- 
nizes the independence of the republic of Cuba. 

Section 2. That, moved thereto by many considerations of hu- 
manity, of interest, and of provocation, among which are the de- 
liberate mooring of our battle-ship the 'Maine ' over a submarine 
mine, and its destruction in the harbor of Havana, the President of 
the United States be, and he is hereby, directed to employ imme- 
diately the land and naval forces of the United States in aiding the 
republic of Cuba to maintain the independence hereby recognized. 

Section 3. That the President of the United States is hereby 
authorized and directed to extend immediate relief to the starving 
people of Cuba. 

When the question was brought to a vote in the House 
substitution of the Democratic resolution was refused by yeas 
1 50, nays 190. Only thirteen members were absent when the vote 
was taken. Every Democrat and Populist and four Republicans 
voted for substitution. The negative vote was of course exclu- 






"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 19 

sively Republican. The majority resolution was adopted, yeas 
322, nays 19. The negative votes were given by sixteen Dem- 
ocrats, who probably so voted to express their dissatisfaction 
with the terms of the resolution, and three Republicans who 
were opposed altogether to intervention. 

The Senate Committee presented its own resolution, which 
in effect was more like that of the Democratic substitute in 
the House than like the resolution which the House passed. 
The Senate was more — and differently — divided in sentiment 
than was the House. The opposition to immediate intervention 
was much stronger, and on the other hand there was more 
support on the Republican side to the policy of recognizing the 
insurgent government of Cuba than was the case in the House 
of Representatives. The resolution as reported by the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Relations was in the following terms : — 

First, That the people of the island of Cuba are, and of right 
ought to be free and independent. 

Second, That it is the duty of the United States to demand, and 
the government of the United States does hereby demand, that the 
government of Spain at once relinquish its authority and govern- 
ment in the island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval 
forces from Cuba and Cuban waters. 

Third, That the President of the United States be, and he hereby 
is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces 
of the United States, and to call into the actual service of the 
United States, the militia of the several states, to such an extent 
as may be necessary to carry these resolutions into effect. 

A minority of the committee, three Democrats and one Re- 
publican, while cordially approving the resolution, as far as it 
went, were in favor of a recognition of the nominal government 
of Cuba, and proposed to amend the first paragraph of the res- 
olution as printed above, by adding — 

and that the government of the United States hereby recognizes 
the republic of Cuba as the true and lawful government of the 
island. 

After a long debate the amendment was carried by a vote of 
yeas 51 (41 Democrats and Free Silver men, 10 Republicans), 
nays 37 (33 Republicans, 4 Democrats). Without opposition 
or a division the Senate added the famous Teller clause, as 
follows : — 

Fourth, that the United States hereby disclaims any disposition 
or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over 



20 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

said island, except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its 
determination, when that is accomplished to leave the government 
and control of the island to its people. 

Thus amended, the resolution was substituted for that of 
the House of Representatives, and was passed by a vote of 
yeas 67, nays 21. Forty-three Democrats and Populists, and 
twenty-four Republicans constituted the majority ; nineteen 
Republicans and two Democrats the minority. The opposition 
in the House to recognition of the republic of Cuba was suffi- 
ciently strong to secure a rejection of that clause of the first 
paragraph. The Committee of Conference recommended that 
the clause be omitted. Although that course was highly 
unsatisfactory to the advocates of recognition the conference 
report was agreed to by the House by yeas 311, nays 6. But 
in the Senate only three Democrats voted aye, and the result 
was yeas 42, nays 35 — all Democrats and Populists. The 
resolution finally adopted was in the form originally proposed 
by a majority of the Senate committee, with the addition of the 
Teller amendment. The President approved it on April 20. 

The resolution meant war. Probably no senator or member 
of the House doubted that when he voted, whether for or 
against it. Nor was there any doubt on that point on the part 
of the Spanish government. It had already declared, in response 
to a joint note by the ambassadors of France, Germany, Italy, 
and Russia, that it had reached the limit of concession to the 
demands and pretensions of the United States. Only eleven 
minutes after the President signed the joint resolution Senor 
Polo y Bernabe, the Spanish minister, demanded his passports. 
The resolution was cabled to Madrid, to Minister Woodford, to- 
gether with an ultimatum, allowing three days only for Spain 
to accede to the terms of the resolution, failing which he would 
proceed to act upon the authority it conferred upon him. The 
delivery of the note was purposely withheld in order to enable 
the Spanish government to act first if it should wish to do so. 
It did so wish, and accordingly sent General Woodford his 
passports. Thus diplomatic relations between the two govern- 
ments were severed, and war began. 

This is not the place to give, even in the barest outline, a 
history of the war. The events which led up to the war were 
strictly political events, but in no sense or degree partisan. They 
were of the utmost importance in changing the attitude of the 
United States toward other powers, and toward the world at 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 21 

large. But in bringing them about both parties, or rather all 
parties, shared the responsibility. They took place under a Re- 
publican administration, but the Democratic and Populist sen- 
ators and members were more eager for the conflict and more 
nearly unanimous in supporting warlike measures and threats 
than were the Republicans. Although on the final vote in the 
Senate they opposed the acceptance of the conference report 
which ensured the passage of the war resolution, they opposed 
it solely because it did not go so far as they desired. 

In January, 1893, a revolution took place in the kingdom 
of Hawaii, and Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate. It 
was alleged by the Democrats that the revolution was promoted, 
was even made possible, by the landing of United States ma- 
rines, at the request of Mr. John L. Stevens, the American 
minister to the island kingdom. The accusation was denied by 
Mr. Stevens and was generally held by Republicans to be false, 
although the fact that the marines were landed in Honolulu 
was not disputed. It was also'not disputed that the revolution 
was in the interest of annexation of the islands to the United 
States. The leaders were all, or nearly all, Americans by birth 
or descent. Soon after the provisional government was organ- 
ized a treaty of annexation was concluded between the two 
governments, subject to the usual ratifications. It was promptly 
ratified by the Hawaiian government, but was warmly opposed 
by the Democrats of the United States, and by the members 
of that party in the Senate. One of the early acts of President 
Cleveland after taking office in 1893 was to withdraw the 
treaty from the Senate where it was pending. During the year 
or two following the withdrawal questions relating to Hawaii 
were hotly discussed by the two parties, the Democrats attack- 
ing the Republicans as being responsible for the dethronement 
of the queen, the Republicans retorting with accusations that 
the statements made by commissioners sent to Honolulu by Mr. 
Cleveland distorted the facts. Upon the accession of Mr. Mc- 
Kinley to the presidency another treaty of annexation was 
negotiated with the republican government that had been 
organized in 1894, and proclaimed on July 4 of that year, in 
succession to the provisional government. But that treaty 
encountered the opposition not only of Democratic senators, 1 
but also of some influential Republicans. Although it was 
concluded and sent to the Senate on June 16, 1897, and was 
i They were not all opposed to it. 



22 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

unanimously ratified by both houses of the Hawaiian legislature 
on September 10, it had not been brought to a vote in the 
United States Senate when the war with Spain broke out. It 
was feared by the advocates of the treaty that it would not 
command the necessary two-thirds vote. 

The naval battle in Manila Bay introduced a new and power- 
ful argument in favor of the annexation of Hawaii. In all prob- 
ability no senator or congressman had any idea in the early 
summer of 1898 that the United States would require a cession 
of the Philippine Islands by Spain, or that it would accept 
sovereignty over them. But the country was engaged in oper- 
ations in the Pacific Ocean which made it imperative that it 
should be secure against hostile movements, and that advantage 
should not be taken of its entanglement with Spain to transfer 
the Hawaiian Islands to any other power. The importance of 
acting promptly was appreciated by the administration, and ac- 
cordingly resort was had to the method which was adopted in 
the case of Texas. On May 17, 1898. Mr. Hitt of Illinois re- 
ported from the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
Representatives a joint resolution providing that, as the gov- 
ernment of Hawaii had consented in due form to the cession 
to the United States of all rights of sovereignty over the 
islands, 1 the cession was " accepted, ratified and confirmed. " 
The resolution covered much ground in the matter of the future 
government of the islands, and provided for commissioners to 
carry the resolution into effect. The policy of annexation was 
debated with great vigor on both sides. The opposition, con- 
sisting chiefly of Democrats, argued strongly against the con- 
stitutionality of an absorption of distant territory, as well as 
against the expediency of the measure. The advocates of the 
resolution dwelt upon the predominance of American interests 
in the islands, and the danger of their conquest by Japan in 
the event of a failure by the United States to accept the cession 
when it was offered. A vote upon the resolution was not taken 
until June 15, when a substitute proposed by the minority was 
rejected, yeas 96, nays 204. The substitute declared that the 
United States would " regard as an act of hostility any attempt 
upon the part of any government of Europe or Asia to take or 
hold possession of the Hawaiian Islands, or to exercise upon 
any pretext or under any conditions sovereign authority there- 
in." It also announced a purpose to guarantee and maintain 

1 Ity its ratification of the treat}' of annexation, September 10, 1897. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 23 

the independence of the people of the islands. The substitute 
having been rejected, the resolution was passed, yeas 209, nays 
91. Thirty-one Democrats and Populists voted in the affirm- 
ative, and three Republicans in the negative. Otherwise it was 
a party vote. The resolution was taken up for discussion by 
the Senate on June 20, and the debate continued until July 6, 
when, many hostile amendments having been rejected, it was 
passed, yeas 42, nays 21. On this vote six Democrats and two 
Independents voted with the majority, and two Republicans 
with the minority. The President approved the joint resolution 
on June 7. The transfer took place and the flag of the United 
States was raised at Honolulu on the 12th of August. Thus, 
before the close of the Spanish war which was to carry the 
country much further in the same direction, the government 
entered upon the policy of so-called imperialism, — the sover- 
eignty over and control of distant territory inhabited by an 
alien race. 

Negotiations for the restoration of peace with Spain were 
opened on July 26 by M. Jules Cambon, the French minister 
at Washington, at the instance of the Spanish government. A 
protocol was signed by Mr. Day, Secretary of State, and M. 
Cambon on August 12. On the 26th the President appointed 
five commissioners to conclude a treaty of peace with an equal 
number of commissioners on the part of Spain. They met in 
Paris on October 1, but it was not until December 10 that the 
treaty was drawn up and signed. The Spanish commissioners 
found many of the demands inadmissible, and protested strongly 
against their harshness, but the President was unyielding, and 
in the end the Spanish government was forced to accept the 
terms imposed on it. 

Nearly a full month was occupied in contention over the 
question of the future of the Philippine Islands, which had 
been left open in the protocol. 1 It became known during the 
discussion of the treaty that the instructions of the President 
to the commissioners had been that they were to demand the 
cession of the island of Luzon only. But it seemed to the com- 
missioners that there were grave objections to that course, and 
upon their recommendation the President authorized them to 

1 The third article of the protocol was as follows: "That the United States 
will occupy and hold the city, bay and harbor of Manila, pending the conclu- 
sion of a treaty of peace which shall determine the control, disposition and 
government of the Philippines." 



24 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

require the cession of the entire group of islands. The decision 
was a momentous one, for it introduced a fundamental change 
in the character of the government, and will affect its history 
in all future time. 

Prior to the time when the demand for the cession of the 
whole archipelago was made there seems to have been practi- 
cally no public opinion in the country favorable to the acqui- 
sition, and no expectation that it would be made a condition of 
peace. The President himself acceded to the representations of 
the commissioners with reluctance. The problem before him 
was most difficult. The acquisition of Luzon alone, it was easy 
to see, was not a solution. It would weaken Spain, and prob- 
ably give over the other islands of the group to anarchy ; and 
would not strengthen the United States materially. The only 
really available solutions were to take the whole of the islands 
or none. The decision to take the whole came as a surprise to 
the people, and found a large number of them either instantly 
hostile to the enterprise or quite unprepared to defend it. An 
examination of the political platforms adopted at the State 
conventions in 1898 shows that in only two States did the 
Republicans favor the acquisition of the Philippines. 1 Many of 
the conventions approved the annexation of Hawaii, but New 
York and Tennessee only favored that of the Philippines. The 
Massachusetts Republicans hoped that the negotiations would 
" be so conducted and terminated as to secure to the Philippine 
Islands and to Cuba in amplest measure the blessings of liberty 
and self-government." 

The opponents of the Philippine policy were first in the 
field. Early in November, 1898, an Anti-Imperialist League 
was formed in Boston. Its principles were opposition to wars 

1 New York Republican convention: " We realize that when the necessities 
of war compelled our nation to destroy Spanish authority in the Antilles and 
in the Philippines we assumed solemn duties and responsibilities alike to the 
people of the islands we conquered and to the civilized world. We cannot turn 
these islands back to Spain. We cannot leave them, unarmed for defence and 
untried in statecraft, to the horrors of domestic strife or to partition among 
European Powers. We have assumed the responsibilities of victory, and wher- 
ever our flag has gone there the liberty, the humanity and the civilization 
which that flag embodies and represents must remain and abide forever." 

Tennessee Republican convention: "We declare in favor of the annexation 
of Porto Rico and all the West Indian islands, and ultimate annexation of 
Cuba by the free suffrage of the people of the island, and such islands of the 
Philippines and other islands that may procure to the United States the trade 
and commerce of those islands and the good government of their people." 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 25 

of conquest and to the acquisition of any colonial dependencies, 
and a rigid adherence to the doctrine of the Declaration of 
Independence that governments derive their just powers from 
the consent of the governed. The venerable George S. Bout- 
well, formerly Secretary of the Treasury under General Grant, 
was the president of the League, which had members in many 
States of the Union. They included a certain number of lie- 
publicans, but were for the most part men who had participated 
in the mugwump movement of 1884 and subsequent years. 

Undoubtedly a great majority of those who ultimately de- 
fended the Philippine annexation policy were convinced of its 
wisdom, even of its necessity, against their will. There were, 
it is true, a great many persons who welcomed it from a senti- 
ment which is akin to patriotism, — from a feeling that the 
possession of distant territory, of colonies, increases the grandeur 
and importance of the nation, and that the lowering of the flag 
where once it had been raised even for an hour implies national 
humiliation. But the real strength of the policy was in some- 
thing far different from chauvinism. A serious consideration 
of the actual condition of affairs in the Philippines led them to 
pause before " turning them back to Spain," — the phrase of the 
New York Republicans, Like Cuba, the islands had been in a 
chronic state of disorder and insurrection. To abandon them was 
to increase the evil. The hold upon them by Spain, weak at 
the best, would have been weakened by the defeat that country 
had sustained. The outlook was anarchy or a despotism, pro- 
bably to be followed by conquest by Japan or some European 
power, which would exploit the islands for its own enrichment. 
On the other hand the United States was responsible for de- 
stroying the authority of Spain, and it thereby came under an 
obligation not to make worse the bad condition of the islands. 

To all this those who took the anti-imperialist view had a 
ready answer. To assume sovereignty over an alien race by 
the purchase of their territory 1 was a distinct denial of the 
principles of the Declaration of Independence ; it was a sufficient 
discharge of the national duty to treat the islands as Congress 
had agreed to treat Cuba, namely, to enable the people to form 
a government of their own; the "white man's burden" was a 
burden self-assumed, and the altruistic motives professed by 
those who advocated the acquisition, were a pretence. Moreover, 

1 By the treaty the United States was to pay twenty million dollars to Spain, 
really, though not in terms, for the cession of the Philippines. 



26 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

the success of the policy would involve the country in enormous 
expenditures ; it would demand a great increase in military 
and naval forces ; it would lead to " entangling alliances " with 
other powers, which the people, warned by Washington, had 
avoided for more than a century. These are but a few of the 
arguments they urged, — and if, in this summary, they seem to 
be phrased too broadly, the limits of space to put them as they 
did, ipsissimis verbis, may fairly be pleaded. In rejoinder 
those who supported the President and the commissioners made 
the point that the alternative policy of the anti-imperialists, 
the organization of a native government in the Philippines 
was grotesquely impracticable, as the natives were incapable of 
governing themselves. 

The treaty was delivered to the President on the 24th of 
December, but as Congress was not then in session it was not 
sent to the Senate until January 4. Although the text of the 
agreement was not made public until a week later the terms 
were accurately known and the open opposition to it had begun. 
Mr. Bryan, who held the rank of colonel in the army during 
the war, took the position of favoring the ratification of the 
treaty, but at the same time arguing against expansion and im- 
perialism. In an interview on December 13 he held that rati- 
fication was advisable on the ground that otherwise the two 
countries would still be nominally in a state of war, and that 
a renewal of negotiations would postpone unduly the declaration 
of peace. With respect to Porto Rico he would have the people 
freely decide whether or not they would be annexed to the 
United States. The Philippines were " too far away," and 
the country could not afford to accept them. Moreover, if the 
people of the United States were entitled to self-government, 
so were the Filipinos. This view was not approved by the Dem- 
ocrats in general, but the authority with which Mr. Bryan 
spoke undoubtedly had much influence with some of the Dem- 
ocratic senators, and ensured the ratification of the treaty. A 
debate sprang up in the Senate before the treaty was submitted 
to it. Several of the Democratic senators strongly opposed the 
policy of expansion beyond the sea, and argued that no consti- 
tutional power existed to authorize the acquisition of distant 
and detached territory. 

After the treaty was received the subject was debated both 
in open Senate and in secret session for a full month. Under 
instruction by the President General Otis, commanding in the 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 27 

Philippines, issued a proclamation to the people setting forth 
the benevolent intentions of the government and people of the 
United States toward them. The proclamation was hotly re- 
sented by the Filipinos who acknowledged the leadership of 
Aguinaldo. Aguinaldo had been a leader of insurgents in a 
former rebellion, and at the outbreak of the Spanish- American 
war was living at Hong-Kong. He returned to the Philippines 
under a certain arrangement with an American consul, to assist 
in the destruction of the Spanish control of the islands. He 
maintained that he was assured that the Americans would turn 
over the archipelago to the natives after conquest. Manifestly 
no person was authorized to give such an assurance, and the 
United States would not be bound by it if it were given. That 
fact, however, might well not be grasped by Aguinaldo, and 
the result of the misconception of the power of a consul was 
mischievous in the extreme. Aguinaldo and his followers would 
not be appeased. They insisted upon a course of action to which 
the United States could not consent. Such at least was the 
opinion of the President and his supporters. He and they had 
reluctantly taken the sovereignty of the Philippines, so they 
declared, not with any purpose of territorial and colonial ag- 
grandizement, but solely because that seemed the only way to 
save the islands from anarchy, — not from a wish to govern 
them, but from a sense of duty. The opponents of the treaty 
derided and disbelieved the assertion, and maintained that the 
real motive was a desire for national expansion, — a manifes- 
tation of a mad passion for national glory, to be satisfied by a 
denial of all the fine principles on which the government had 
always before been conducted. 

There were frequent conferences between the military au- 
thorities at Manila and Aguinaldo, but in the circumstances 
an agreement was impossible. In the evening of Saturday, Feb- 
ruary 4, 1899, a determined and concerted attack was made by 
the Filipinos upon the American forces. That was the beginning 
of a long, bloody and exasperating struggle, upon the course 
and incidents of which it is unnecessary to enter in this place. 
Undoubtedly it affected public opinion at home. The enterprise 
of reducing to subjection alien peoples, who seemed to be fight- 
ing for liberty and the right of self-government, was extremely 
obnoxious to a large number of citizens, perhaps to a large 
majority of them, including a great many who strongly sup- 
ported the administration and its war policy. Those of that 



28 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

class held that the natives of the islands were incapable of self- 
government, that Aguinaldo and his supporters were self-ap- 
pointed leaders who at best represented but a small fraction 
of one race out of many in the Philippines, and that it would 
be a humiliation to the United States and a base shirking of 
duty to abandon the islands, in the face of hostilities, to in- 
surgents who possessed so little authority. 

But the outbreak of hostilities made it certain that the treaty 
would be ratified. The Senate came to a vote on Monday, the 
6th, and the necessary two-thirds vote was obtained for ratifi- 
cation, — yeas 57, nays 27. Sixteen Democrats and Populists 
joined with forty-one Republicans in the affirmative. Two Re- 
publicans were with twenty-five Democrats and Populists in 
the negative. In spite of the cross-voting on this division the 
question of " imperialism/' as the policy of expansion was de- 
nominated by its opponents, was to be the " paramount " issue 
in the ensuing presidential election ; yet on neither side of the 
division did any senator who had dissented from the action of 
a majority of his own party, separate from them in the canvass 
of 1900. Some of the Democratic senators were avowedly in 
favor of the expansion. Others endeavored to procure the pass- 
age of a resolution — offered by one of them — declaring the 
purpose of the United States to oversee the organization of a 
stable government in the Philippines by the natives, and to 
turn the islands over to that government, following the course 
it was proposed to pursue in the case of Cuba. Although the 
resolution was debated at some length it was never brought to 
a vote. A mild, non-committal resolution was passed after the 
treaty was ratified. Although the opponents of the Philippine 
policy made many efforts to secure an amendment, pledging the 
government to give the Filipinos independence, all such propo- 
sitions were rejected, and the resolution as passed went no 
further than to promise such disposition of the islands as 
should be best for the natives and the interest of the United 
States. 

The election of the Fifty-sixth Congress took place in No- 
vember, 1898. It was entirely unaffected by any question of 
imperialism, since there was practically no opposition, certainly 
no partisan opposition, to the acquisition of Porto Rico, and 
the intention to demand a cession of the Philippines had hardly 
taken definite shape in the mind of the President, and was 
wholly unknown by the people. The issue in the election was 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 29 

chiefly on the silver question. Although the Republican ma- 
jority in the House of Representatives was reduced, the actual 
majority against the free coinage of silver was increased. 1 The 
House of Representatives of the Fifty-fifth Congress would 
have passed an act establishing the gold standard, but there 
was a majority in favor of silver free coinage in the Senate, — 
a majority probably of eight or ten. But the election of sen- 
ators by the State legislatures in the winter of 1898-99 changed 
the complexion of the Senate completely. No less than eight 
silver men were replaced by advocates of the gold standard, and 
there was no change in the opposite direction. 

The President in his annual message to Congress, December 5, 
1899, gave the first place to a consideration of the financial 
condition of the government, and the opportunity to make se- 
cure the gold standard of value. He wrote : — 

While there is now no commercial fright which withdraws gold 
from the government, but, on the contrary, such widespread con- 
fidence that gold seeks the Treasury demanding paper money in 
exchange, yet the very situation points to the present as the most 
fitting time to make adequate provision to insure the continuance 
of the gold standard and of public confidence in the ability and 
purpose of the government to meet all its obligations in the 
money which the civilized world recognizes as the best. The finan- 
cial transactions of the government are conducted on a gold basis. 
We receive gold when we sell United States bonds, and use gold 
for their payment. 

The Republicans were resolved to use the opportunity to 
carry out one of the pledges in their national platform of 1896, 
which it was not possible to do in the preceding Congress. The 
very first bill introduced in either House was presented by Mr. 
Overstreet of Indiana, — "To define and fix the standard of 
value, to maintain the parity of all forms of money issued or 
coined by the United States, and for other purposes." It made 
"the dollar consisting of 25.8 grains of gold, nine-tenths fine" 
the standard of value. It was a long bill, and dealt with many 
other branches of the financial question, but the declaration 
that gold was the standard, and the pledge that all forms of 
money should be maintained at par with gold, were the chief 
points in the contest that followed. 

1 The House in the Fifty-fifth Congress consisted of 207 Republicans, 122 
Democrats, 21 Populists, 3 Silverites, 3 Fusion, and there was one vacancy. 
In the Fifty-Sixth Congress there were 186 Republicans, 162 Democrats, 
7 Populists, and 2 Silverites. 



30 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

The bill was not referred to a committee, but on December 8, 
four days after it was introduced, the Committee on Rules 
brought in a special rule, which was adopted, allowing general 
debate on the bill from the 11th until the loth, debate under 
the five minute rule on the 16th, and requiring the bill to be 
brought to a vote immediately after the reading of the journal 
on Monday the 18th. The programme was carried out strictly. 
The debate was conducted on party lines, and all the arguments 
on either side of the question were rehearsed and repeated by 
scores of members. At the close of the period assigned for con- 
sideration of the measure, all propositions of a hostile character 
having been defeated, the bill was passed, yeas 190, nays 150. 
Save that eleven Democrats 1 voted for the bill, the division 
was strictly on party lines. But a certain number of Democrats 
who were known to be opponents of free silver and advocates 
of the single gold standard, voted against the bill because it 
contained provisions to which they entertained objections. The 
bill was more fully considered in detail in the Senate. It was 
referred in that body to the Committee on Finance, which re- 
ported a substitute, containing provision for the refunding of 
the national debt. A prolonged debate came to an end on Feb- 
ruary 15, 1900, and the bill was passed, yeas 46, nays 29. 
Two Democrats voted in the affirmative and one Republican 
in the negative. It was not until March 13 that the conference 
report was adopted by both branches of Congress. The Pres- 
ident approved the bill on the 14th. 

In one respect the situation at the beginning of the presi- 
dential canvass of 1900 was without precedent since the adop- 
tion of the convention system. The candidate for President of 
each of the two great parties was designated in advance, with- 
out the semblance of opposition. After Jackson, who was 
elected for his second term without a formal nomination, only 
four presidents had been nominated for a second term. In the 
cases of Van Buren, Lincoln and Grant the choice of the op- 
posing candidate was not predetermined ; and the nominations 
of Cleveland and Harrison in 1888, although anticipated con- 
fidently, met with strong opposition. But in 1900, and even 
two years earlier, the selection of McKinley and Bryan to lead 
their respective parties again was seen to be inevitable. The 

1 Eight New York members, and one each from Maryland, Massachusetts, 
and Pennsylvania. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 31 

President had not taken a course acceptable to all those who 
supported him in 1896, but the dissenters were comparatively 
few, and were not generally men whose influence would be 
perceptible in the choice of delegates to the national conven- 
tion. The vast majority of the party regarded the administra- 
tion as eminently successful and worthy of support, and Mr. 
McKinley was personally extremely popular. Some of his pre- 
decessors in office had been compelled to encounter the opposi- 
tion of leaders of their own party by reason of their lack of the 
quality which enables men to be on terms of personal friend- 
ship with political friends and foes. 

Mr. Bryan developed such a capacity for leadership in the 
canvass of 1896 that it was natural for him to continue in the 
position of leader after his defeat. Not only so, but it was 
natural for his followers in that canvass to accept his leader- 
ship. No other defeated candidate had ever assumed such 
authority. To no other had such authority been conceded. 
The Democrats, after the election of 1840, announced their 
intention of electing Van Buren in 1844, but they did not 
look to him for political advice, nor follow his advice on the 
few occasions when he gave it. Tilden and Blaine who were not 
elected, and Harrison and Cleveland who were defeated after 
a first term, were all more or less qualified to take upon them- 
selves a measure of authority in guiding their party, but not 
one of them sought or exercised a tithe of the influence that 
Mr, Bryan held, with the full consent of an overwhelming ma- 
jority of the Democrats. During the whole period between the 
election of 1896 and the convention of 1900, his nomination 
was never for a moment in doubt. 

There was far less assurance as to the result of the coming 
election. An issue completely new had been injected into na- 
tional politics. On the Democratic side, under the leadership 
of Mr. Bryan, a determination was expressed, in case the party 
should obtain the power, to reverse the action of the adminis- 
tration with respect to the Philippines — to dispossess the 
United States of the sovereignty of the islands by setting up 
a native government. The war which the United States was 
waging to reduce those natives to subjection was denounced 
in unmeasured terms. The Republicans maintained that the 
country was under an obligation to civilization not to permit 
the Philippines to lapse into anarchy, which they were sure 
would be the result of the Democratic policy, and that the 



32 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

restoration of authority and order by a suppression of the re- 
bellion was an indispensable preliminary even to the establish- 
ment of self-government in the islands, were that to be the 
purpose of the United States. 

The question of the time was how far the new issue would 
cause secession from the ranks of either party. Some of the 
strongest, most earnest and most energetic anti-imperialists 
were lifelong Republicans. The Spanish treaty had been 
strenuously opposed in Congress by such well known and in- 
fluential men as Senators Hoar and Hale and Mr. Speaker 
Reed. Their views on the subject of taking and governing 
distant territory and alien races were shared by many of their 
fellow members of the party ; but, as it ultimately became 
evident, the sentiment developed chiefly in New England and 
the Middle States. Moreover, not one of the leaders named 
proposed to leave his party and support Mr. Bryan. His con- 
tinued outspoken advocacy of free silver coinage made him, 
for them, an impossible candidate. They hoped that in the 
end their own party would adopt their view and treat the 
Filipinos in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of 
Independence. On the other hand a period of great prosperity 
throughout the country had rendered a large number of those 
who in 1896 had looked to the free coinage of silver as a cure 
of the prevailing hard times, quite indifferent to the application 
of that remedy. Consequently a return to allegiance to the 
Republican party by many men in the so-called Silver States, 
was confidently expected. Finally, there were many Democrats 
who upheld the policy of expansion, but they were not ex- 
pected to vote for Mr. McKinley, — certainly not in large 
numbers. But the issue on which the canvass was avowedly 
to be made was so new that the result could not be predicted 
with confidence. 

As has usually been the case the new parties — those which are 
based on dissentfrom the principlesof both the leading parties, and 
those which deem most important other reforms than those which 
are in the minds of Democrats and Republicans — were earliest 
in the field. The first step in the canvass was taken at the fourth 
annual session of the Supreme Council of the Farmers' Alliance 
and Industrial Union, which was held at Washington on Feb- 
ruary 6 and the two following days. The Council pledged the 
support of the Alliance to the Candidates to be nominated by 
the Democrats, and adopted the following platform : — 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 33 

Whereas, The Declaration of Independence, as a basis of a republi- 
can form of government that might be progessive and perpetual, holds 
" That all men are created equal, that they are endowed with certain 
inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pur- 
suit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are insti- 
tuted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of 
the governed," 

We hold, therefore, that to restore and preserve these rights un- 
der a republican form of government, private monopolies of public 
necessities for speculative purposes, whether of the means of pro- 
duction, distribution or exchange, should be prohibited, and when- 
ever such public necessity or utility becomes a monopoly in private 
hands, the people of the municipality, State or Union, as the case 
may be, shall appropriate the same by right of eminent domain, 
paying a just value therefor, and operate them for and in the in- 
terest of the whole people. 

We demand a National currency, safe, sound and flexible ; issued 
by the general Government only, a full legal tender for all debts 
and receivable for all dues, and an equitable and efficient means of 
distribution of this currency, directly to the people, at the mini- 
mum of expense and without the intervention of banking corpora- 
tions and in sufficient volume to transact the business of the coun- 
try on a cash basis. 

We demand the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold at 
the legal ratio of 16 to 1. 

We demand a graduated income tax. 

That our National legislation shall be so framed in the future as 
not to build up one industry at the expense of another. 

We believe that the money of the country should be kept as 
much as possible in the hands of the people, and hence we demand 
that all National and State revenues shall be limited to the neces- 
sary expenses of the Government economically and honestly ad- 
ministered. 

We demand that postal savings banks be established by the Gov- 
ernment for the safe deposit of the savings of the people, and to 
facilitate exchange. 

We are unalterably opposed to the issue by the United States of 
interest-bearing bonds, and demand the payment of all coin obli- 
gations of the United States, as provided by existing laws, in either 
gold or silver coin, at the option of the Government and not at the 
option of the creditor. 

The Government shall purchase or construct and operate a suf- 
ficient mileage of railroads to effectually control all rates of trans- 
portation on a just and equitable basis. 

The telegraph and telephone, like the postoffice system, being a 



34 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

necessity for the transmission of intelligence, should be owned and 
operated by the Government in the interest of the people. 

We demand that no land shall be held by corporations for spec- 
ulative purposes or by railroads in excess of their needs as carriers, 
and all lands now owned by aliens should be reclaimed by the 
Government and held for actual settlers only. 

We demand the election of United States Senators by a direct 
vote of the people ; that each State shall be divided into two dis- 
tricts of nearly equal voting population, and that a Senator from 
each shall be elected by the people of the district. 

Relying upon the good common sense of the American people, 
and believing that a majority of them, when uninfluenced by party 
prejudice, will vote right on all questions submitted to them on 
their merits ; and further to effectually annihilate the pernicious 
lobby in legislation, we demand direct legislation by means of the 
initiative referendum. We demand free mail delivery in the rural 
districts. We demand that the inhabitants of all the territory com- 
ing to the United States as a result of the war with Spain be as 
speedily as possible permitted to organize a free government of 
their own, based upon the consent of the governed. 

In January, 1900, a convention of the Social Democratic 
party was held at Rochester, New York, and a committee was 
appointed to attend the convention of the Social Democratic 
party to be held at Indianapolis on March 6, for the purpose 
of effecting a union of the two parties. The Indianapolis con- 
vention appointed a similar committee, and at a joint meeting 
of the two committees held in New Y T ork on March 26 a plan 
of union was agreed upon, to be submitted to the two parties. 
The plan was adopted on June 10, and at Chicago, on Septem- 
ber 29, the ticket nominated at the Indianapolis convention in 
March, and the platform then adopted, were both ratified. By 
this action Eugene V. Debs, of Illinois, became the candidate 
of the amalgamated party for President, and Job Harriman, of 
California, was the candidate for Vice-President. The platform 
of the party, which retained the name " Social Democratic," 
was as follows : — 

The Social Democratic party of the United States, in convention 
assembled, reaffirms its allegiance to the revolutionary principles 
of International Socialism and declares the supreme political issue 
in America to-day to be the contest between the working class and 
the capitalist class for the possession of the powers of government. 
The party affirms its steadfast purpose to use those powers, once 
achieved, to destroy wage slavery, abolish the institution of pri- 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 35 

vate property in the means of production, and establish the coop- 
erative Commonwealth. 

In the United States, as in all other civilized countries, the nat- 
ural order of economic development has separated society into two 
antagonistic classes — the capitalists, a comparatively small class, 
the possessors of all the modern means of production and distribu- 
tion (land, mines, machinery and means of transportation and 
communication), and the large and ever increasing class of wage 
workers, possessing no means of production. This economic su- 
premacy has secured to the dominant class the full control of the 
government, the pulpit, the schools, and the public press ; it has 
thus made the capitalist class the arbiter of the fate of the work- 
ers, whom it is reducing to a condition of dependence, economic- 
ally exploited and oppressed, intellectually and physically crippled 
and degraded, and their political equality rendered a bitter mock- 
ery. The contest between these two classes grows ever sharper. 
Hand in hand with the growth of monopolies goes the annihilation 
of small industries and of the middle class depending upon them ; 
ever larger grows the multitude of destitute wage workers and of 
the unemployed, and ever fiercer the struggle between the class 
of the exploiter and the exploited, the capitalists and the wage 
workers. 

The evil effects of capitalist production are intensified by the 
recurring industrial crises which render the existence of the greater 
part of the population still more precarious and uncertain. These 
facts amply prove that the modern means of production have out- 
grown the existing social order based on production for profit. 
Human energy and natural resources are wasted for individual gain. 
Ignorance is fostered that wage slavery may be perpetuated. Science 
and invention are perverted to the exploitation of men, women, 
and children. The lives and liberties of the working class are 
recklessly sacrificed for profit. Wars are fomented between nations ; 
indiscriminate slaughter is encouraged ; the destruction of whole 
races is sanctioned, in order that the capitalist class may extend its 
commercial dominion abroad and enhance its supremacy at home. 

The introduction of a new and higher order of society is the his- 
toric mission of the working class. All other classes, despite their 
apparent or actual conflicts, are interested in upholding the system 
of private ownership in the means of production. The Demo- 
cratic, Republican, and all other parties which do not stand for the 
complete overthrow of the capitalist system of production are 
alike the tools of the capitalist class. Their policies are injurious 
to the interest of the working class, which can be served only by 
the abolition of the profit system. The workers can most effectively 
act as a class in their struggle against the collective power of the 



36 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

capitalist class only by constituting themselves into a political 
party, distinct and opposed to all parties formed by the propertied 
classes. 

We, therefore, call upon the wage workers of the United States, 
without distinction of color, race, sex, or creed, and upon all citi- 
zens in sympathy with the historic mission of the working class, 
to organize under the banner of the Social Democratic party, as a 
party truly representing the interests of the toiling masses and un- 
compromisingly waging war upon the exploiting class, until the 
system of wage slavery shall be abolished and the cooperative 
Commonwealth shall be set up. Pending the accomplishment of 
this our ultimate purpose, we pledge every effort of the Social 
Democratic party for the immediate improvement of the condition 
of labor and for the securing of its progressive demands. 

As steps in that direction, we make the following demands : 

First — Revision of our Federal Constitution, in order to remove 
the obstacles to complete control of government by the people, ir- 
respective of sex. 

Second — The public ownership of all industries controlled by 
monopolies, trusts and combines. 

Third — The public ownership of all railroads, telegraphs and 
telephones; all means of transportation; all waterworks, gas and 
electric plants, and other public utilities. 

Fourth — The public ownership of all gold, silver, copper, lead, 
iron, coal and other mines, and all oil and gas wells. 

Fifth — The reduction of the hours of labor in proportion to 
the increasing facilities of production. 

Sixth — The inauguration of a system of public works and im- 
provements for the employment of the unemployed, the public 
credit to be utilized for that purpose. 

Seventh — Useful inventions to be free, the inventors to be re- 
munerated by the public. 

Eighth — Labor legislation to be National, instead of local, and 
international when possible. 

Ninth — National insurance of working people against acci- 
dents, lack of employment, and want in old age. 

Tenth — Equal civil and political rights for men and women, 
and the abolition of all laws discriminating against women. 

Eleventh — The adoption of the initiative and referendum, pro- 
portional representation, and the right of recall of representatives 
by the voters. 

Twelfth — Abolition of war and the introduction of international 
arbitration. 

As early as January, 1900, the national committee of the 
Union Reform party, an organization which had no visible ex- 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 37 

istence at the preceding election, sent out ballots to members 
of the party asking them to express their preference for candi- 
dates for President and Vice-President. The ballots were re- 
turned in February and March, and in April the committee 
reported that the choice had fallen upon Seth H. Ellis, of Ohio, 
for President, and Samuel T. Nicholson, of Pennsylvania, for 
Vice-President. The number of votes given to them was not 
announced. The platform on which the party went to the polls 
had been previously adopted at a convention held at Cincinnati 
in March, 1899. As will be seen it had but a single plank, 
which was to be found in the platform of more than one of the 
other minor parties. It was as follows : — , 

Direct legislation under the system known as the initiative and 
referendum. Under the " initiative " the people can compel the 
submission to themselves of any desired law, when, if it receives a 
majority of the votes cast, it is thereby enacted. Under the u refer- 
endum " the people can compel the submission to themselves of any 
law which has been adopted by any legislative body, when, if such 
law fails to receive a majority of the votes cast, it will be thereby 
rejected. 

Agreeably to a call issued at Chicago in December 1899, a 
convention of the United Christian party was held at Rockford, 
Illinois, on May 1, 1900. Delegates were present from Colorado, 
Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Montana, and possibly from other 
States. As nearly as can be ascertained from the newspapers of 
the time they numbered thirty-one in all. Mr. W. H. Benkert, 
of Iowa, was the chairman. The convention nominated Rev. 
Silas C. Swallow, of Pennsylvania, for President, and John G. 
Woolley, of Illinois, for Vice-President. They both withdrew 
and Jonah F. R. Leonard, of Iowa, and David H. Martin, of 
Pennsylvania, were nominated for the two offices respectively. 
The platform adopted was as follows : — 

We, the United Christian party, in national convention assem- 
bled, acknowledging Almighty God as the source of all power and 
authority, the Lord Jesus Christ as the sovereign ruler of nations, 
and the Bible as the standard by which to decide moral issues in 
our political life, do make the following declaration : — 

We believe the time to have arrived when the eternal principles 
of justice, mercy and love as exemplified in the life and teachings 
of Jesus Christ should be embodied in the Constitution of our Na- 
tion and applied in concrete form to every function of our Govern- 
ment. 



38 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

We deprecate certain immoral laws which have grown out of the 
failure of our Nation to recognize these principles, notably such as 
require the desecration of the Christian Sabbath, authorize un- 
scriptural marriage and divorce, license the manufacture and sale 
of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, and permit the sale of cigar- 
ettes or tobacco in any form to minors. As an expression of con- 
sent or allegiance on the part of the governed, in harmony with the 
above statements, we declare for the adoption and use of the system 
of direct legislation known as the " initiative and referendum," to- 
gether with " proportionate representation " and the " imperative 
mandate." 

We hold that all men and women are created free and with equal 
rights, and declare for the establishment of such political, indus- 
trial and social conditions as shall guarantee to every person civic 
equality, the full fruits of his or her honest toil, and opportunit}' 
for the righteous enjoyment of the same ; and we especially con- 
demn mob violence and outrages against any individual or class of 
individuals in our country. 

We declare against war and for the arbitration of all National 
and international disputes. We hold that the legalized liquor traffic 
is the crowning infamy of civilization, and we declare for the im- 
mediate abolition of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating 
liquors as a beverage. We are gratified to note the widespread agi- 
tation of the cigarette question, and declare ourselves in favor of 
the enactment of laws prohibiting the sale of cigarettes or tobacco 
in any form to minors. 

We declare for the daily reading of the Bible in the public 
schools and institutions of learning under control of the State. 

We declare for the Government ownership of public utilities. 

We declare for the election of the President and Vice-President 
and United States Senators by the direct vote of the people. 

We declare for such amendment of the United States Consti- 
tution as shall be necessary to give the principles herein set 
forth an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of our 
land. 

We invite into the United Christian party every honest man and 
woman who believes in Christ and His golden rule and standard 
of righteousness. 

The Populist party, which became divided into two factions 
in 189G, consisting of those who favored a complete fusion with 
the Democrats, so far as a support of the candidates of that 
party were concerned, and those who favored a " middle-of-the 
road," that is, an independent policy, continued to be divided 
in 1900. The two wings of the party held conventions on the 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 39 

same day, May 9, — the Fusionists at Sioux Falls, South Da- 
kota, and the " Middle-of-the-Road " faction at Cincinnati. 

Mr. P. M. Kingdahl, of Minnesota, presided over the Sioux 
Falls convention. There was no opposition whatever to the 
nomination of Mr. Bryan as a candidate for President, but 
there was much dissension over the question of making a nom- 
ination for Vice-President. Those who regarded it as of great 
importance not to take action that would embarrass the Demo- 
crats, were opposed to the plan of making a nomination. On the 
other hand it was urged that by making a nomination the party 
would emphasize the fact of its separate and independent exist- 
ence, and that the Democratic convention might, in order to 
secure the full support of the Populists, adopt the candidate 
selected by them. A motion to defer the nomination was de- 
feated by 496 to 492 votes. Although the convention was at- 
tended by a large number of delegates, it should not be sup- 
posed that 988 persons were actually present. The delegates 
from any State, few or many, were allowed to cast all the votes 
to which that State would be entitled if the representation were 
full. As Mr. Bryan had already been nominated by acclamation 
the convention proceeded to the nomination of a candidate for 
Vice-President. Several gentlemen whose names had been pre- 
sented having withdrawn, Mr. Charles A. Towne, of Minnesota, 
was nominated, also by acclamation. On August 8, after the 
Democratic national convention, Mr. Towne withdrew, and the 
support of the Fusionist Populists was given to the whole 
Democratic ticket. The following platform was adopted: — 

Resolved, That we denounce the act of March 14, 1900, as the cul- 
mination of a long series of conspiracies to deprive the people of 
their constitutional rights over the money of the nation, and rele- 
gate to a gigantic money trust the control of the purse, and hence 
of the people. We denounce this act, first, for making all money 
obligations, domestic and foreign, payable in gold coin or its equi- 
valent, thus enormously increasing the burdens of the debtors and 
enriching the creditors. Second, for refunding coin bonds not to 
mature for years into long-time gold bonds, so as to make their 
payment improbable and our debt perpetual. Third, for taking from 
the Treasury over $50,000,000 in a time of war and presenting it 
as a premium to bond holders to accomplish the refunding of 
bonds not due. Fourth, for doubling the capital of bankers by re- 
turning them the face value of their bonds in current money notes, 
so that they may draw one interest from the government and an- 



40 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

other from the people. Fifth, for allowing banks to expand and 
contract their circulation at pleasure, thus controlling prices of all 
products. Sixth, for authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to 
issue new gold bonds to an unlimited amount whenever he deems 
it necessary to replenish the gold hoard, thus enabling usurers to 
secure more bonds and more bank currency by drawing gold from 
the Treasury, thereby creating an endless chain for perpetually 
adding to a perpetual debt. Seventh, for striking down the green- 
back in order to force the people to borrow '1346,000,000 more from 
the banks at an annual cost of over $20, 000,000. 

While barring out the money of the Constitution, this law opens 
the printing mints of the Treasury to the free coinage of bank pa- 
per money, to enrich the few and impoverish the many. We pledge 
anew the People's party never to cease the agitation until this 
great financial conspiracy is blotted from the statute books, the 
Lincoln greenback restored, the bonds all paid, and all corporation 
money forever retired. 

We affirm the demand for the reopening of the mints of the 
United States for the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold 
at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, the immediate increase in the 
volume of silver coins and certificates thus created, to be sub- 
stituted, dollar for dollar, for the bank notes issued by private 
corporations, under special privilege granted by law of March 14, 
1900, and prior national banking laws, the remaining portion of 
the banknotes to be replaced with full legal tender government 
paper money, and its volume so controlled as to maintain at all 
times a stable money market and a stable price level. 

W^e demand a graduated income and inheritance tax, to the 
end that aggregated wealth shall bear its just proportion of tax- 
ation. 

We demand that postal savings banks shall be established by 
government for the safe deposit of the savings of the people and to 
facilitate exchange. 

With Thomas Jefferson we declare the land, including all na- 
tural sources of wealth, the inalienable heritage of the people. 
Government should so act as to secure homes for the people and 
prevent land monopoly. The original homestead policy should be 
enforced, and future settlers upon the public domain should be 
entitled to a free homestead, while all who have paid an acreage 
price to the government under existing laws should have their 
homestead rights restored, 

Transportation, being a means of exchange and a public neces- 
sity, the government should own and operate the railroads in the 
interest of the people, and on a non-partisan basis, to the end 
that all may be accorded the same treatment in transportation, 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 41 

and that the extortion, tyranny and political power now exercised 
by the great railroad corporations, which result in the impairment, 
if not the destruction, of the political rights and personal liberty 
of the citizen, may be destroyed. Such ownership is to be accom- 
plished in a manner consistent with sound public policy. Trusts, 
the overshadowing evil of the age, are the result and the culmin- 
ation of the private ownership and control of these great instru- 
ments of commerce — money, transportation, and the means of 
transmission of information — which instruments of commerce 
are public functions, and which our forefathers declared in the 
Constitution should be controlled by the people through their 
Congress, for the public welfare. The one remedy for the trusts is 
that the ownership and control be assumed and exercised by the 
people. 

We further demand that all tariffs on goods controlled by a 
trust shall be abolished. To cope with the trust evil the people 
must act directly without the intervention of representatives, who 
may be controlled or influenced. We therefore demand direct legis- 
lation, giving the people the law-making and veto power under 
the initiative and referendum. A majority of the people can never 
be corruptly influenced. 

Applauding the valor of our army and navy in the Spanish war, 
we denounce the conduct of the administration in changing a war 
for humanity into a war of conquest. The action of the adminis- 
tration in the Philippines is in conflict with all the precedents of 
our national life ; at war with the Declaration of Independence, the 
Constitution, and the plain precepts of humanity. Murder and ar- 
son have been our response to the appeals of the people, who asked 
only to establish a free government in their own land. We demand 
a stoppage of this war of extermination by the assurance to the 
Philippines of independence and the protection under a stable 
government of their own creation. The Declaration of Independ- 
ence, the Constitution and the American flag are one and insep- 
arable. The island of Porto Rico is a part of the territory of the 
United States, and by levying special and extraordinary customs 
duties on the commerce of that island, the administration has 
violated the Constitution, abandoned the fundamental principles of 
American liberty, and. has striven to give the lie to the conten- 
tion of our forefathers that there should be no taxation without 
representation. Out of the imperialism that would force an un de- 
sired domination upon the people of the Philippines springs the 
un-American cry for a large standing army. Nothing in the char- 
acter or purposes of our people justifies us in ignoring the plain 
lesson of history, and putting our liberties in jeopardy by assum- 
ing the burden of imperialism which is crushing the people of the 



42 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Old World. We denounce the administration for its sinister efforts 
to substitute a standing army for the citizen soldiery, which is the 
best safeguard of the Republic. 

We extend to the brave Boers of South Africa our sympathy 
and moral support in their patriotic struggle for the right of self- 
government, and we are unalterably opposed to any alliance, open 
or covert, between the United States and any other nation that 
will tend to the destruction of liberty. 

And a further manifestation of imperialism is to be found hi 
the mining districts of Idaho. In the Coeur d'Alene soldiers have 
been used to override miners striving for a greater measure of in- 
dustrial independence. And we denounce the State government of 
Idaho, and the federal government for employing the military arm 
of the government to abridge the civil rights of the people, and to 
enforce an infamous permit system which denies to laborers their 
inherent ability and compels them to forswear their manhood and 
their right before being permitted to seek employment. 

The importation of Japanese and other laborers under contract 
to serve monopolistic corporations is a notorious and flagrant vio- 
lation of the immigrant laws. We demand that the federal govern- 
ment shall take cognizance of this menacing evil, and suppress it, 
under existing laws. We further pledge ourselves to strive for the 
enactment of more stringent laws for the exclusion of Mongolian 
and Malayan immigration. 

We endorse municipal ownership of public utilities, and declare 
that the advantages which have accrued to the public under that 
system would be multiplied a hundredfold by its extension to nat- 
ural inter-State monopolies. 

Mr. Milford W. Howard, of Alabama, was the temporary, and 
Mr. W. L. Peck, of Georgia, the permanent, president of the 
convention of Middle-of-the-Road Populists at Cincinnati, on 
May 9. It was reported that about seven hundred delegates 
were in attendance, and that every State and Territory in the 
Union was represented, except Arizona, New Mexico, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, and Vermont. Evidently the States 
were quite irregularly represented, inasmuch as objection was 
made to the one delegate from Kansas casting the entire num- 
ber of votes, eighty-six, to which the State was entitled, and 
he was obliged to be satisfied with the eleven votes assigned 
to his congressional district. Two votes were taken for a nom- 
ination of a candidate for President. On the second trial 
Wharton Barker, of Pennsylvania, received 370 votes to 336 
for Milford W. Howard, of Alabama. Ignatius Donnelly, of 



« IMPERIALISM " THfi "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 43 

Minnesota, was nominated* by acclamation for Vice-President. 
The following platform was adopted : — 

The People's party of the United States, assembled in national 
convention this 10th day of May, 1900, affirming our unshaken be- 
lief in the cardinal tenets of the People's party as set forth in the 
Omaha platform, and pledging ourselves anew to continued advo- 
cacy of these grand principles of human liberty, until right shall 
triumph over might and love over greed, do adopt and proclaim 
this declaration of faith : 

We demand the initiative and referendum and the imperative 
mandate for such changes of existing fundamental and statute law 
as will enable the people in their sovereign capacity to propose and 
compel the enactment of such laws as they desire, to reject such as 
they deem injurious to their interests, and to recall unfaithful 
public servants. 

We demand the public ownership and operation of those means 
of communication, transportation and production which the people 
may elect, such as railroads, telegraph and telephone lines, coal 
mines, etc. 

The land, including all natural sources of wealth, is a heritage 
of the people, and should not be monopolized for speculative pur- 
poses, and alien ownership of land should be prohibited. All land 
now held by railroads and other corporations in excess of their ac- 
tual needs and all lands now owned by aliens should be reclaimed 
by the Government and held for actual settlers only. 

A scientific and absolute paper money, based upon the entire 
wealth and population of the Nation, not redeemable in any specific 
commodity, but made a full legal tender for all debts and receivable 
for all taxes and public dues and issued by the Government only 
without the intervention of banks and in sufficient quantity to 
meet the demands of commerce, is the best currency that can be 
devised : but until such a financial system is secured, which we 
shall press for adoption, we favor the free and unlimited coinage 
of both silver and gold at the legal ratio of 16 to 1. 

We demand the levy and collection of a graduated tax on in- 
comes and inheritances, and a constitutional amendment to secure 
the same, if necessary. 

We demand the election of President, Vice-President, Federal 
Judges and United States Senators by direct vote of the people. 

We are opposed to trusts, and declare the contention between 
the old parties on the monopoly question is a sham battle, and that 
no solution of this mighty problem is possible without the adop- 
tion of the principles of public ownership of public utilities. 

The next convention, in point of time, was that of the So- 



44 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

cialist-Labor party, which was helcfr in New York city on June 
2. On the 6th it nominated for President Joseph Malloney of 
Massachusetts, and for Vice-President Valentine Remmel of 
Pennsylvania. It readopted the platform of 1896, as follows : — 

The Socialist Labor party of the United States, in convention 
assembled, reasserts the inalienable right of all men to life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness. With the founders of the American 
Republic we hold that the purpose of government is to secure every 
citizen in the enjoyment of this right ; but in the light of our social 
conditions we hold, furthermore, that no such right can be exer- 
cised under a system of economic inequality, essentially destructive 
of life, of liberty and of happiness. 

With the founders of this Republic we hold that the true theory 
of politics is that the machinery of government must be owned and 
controlled by the whole people ; but in the light of our industrial 
development we hold, furthermore, that the true theory of econo- 
mics is that the machinery of production must likewise belong to 
the people in common. To the obvious fact that our despotic sys- 
tem of economics is the direct opposite of our democratic system 
of politics can plainly be traced the existence of a privileged class, 
the corruption of government by that class, the alienation of public 
property, public franchises and public functions to that class, and 
the abject dependence of the mightiest of nations upon that class. 

Again, through the perversion of democracy to the ends of plu- 
tocracy, labor is robbed of the wealth which it alone produces, is 
denied the means of self-employment, and, by compulsory idleness 
in wage slavery, is even deprived of the necessaries of life. Human 
power and natural forces are thus wasted, that the plutocracy may 
rule. Ignorance and misery, with all their concomitant evils, are 
perpetuated, that the people may be kept in bondage. Science and 
invention are diverted from their humane purpose to the enslave- 
ment of women and children. 

Against such a system the Socialist Labor party once more en- 
ters its protest. Once more it reiterates its fundamental declaration 
that private property in the natural sources of production and in 
the instruments of labor is the obvious cause of all economic servj^ 
tude and political dependence. The time is fast coming when, in 
the natural course of social evolution, this system, through the de- 
structive action of its failures and crises on the one hand, and the 
constructive tendencies of its trusts and other capitalistic combi- 
nations on the other hand, shall have worked out its own down- 
fall. 

We therefore call upon the wage workers of the United States,, 
and upon all other honest citizens, to organize under the .banner 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 45 

of the Socialist Labor party into a class-conscious body, aware of 
its rights and determined to conquer them by taking possession of 
the public powers ; so that, held together by an indomitable spirit 
of solidarity under the most trying conditions of the present class 
struggle, we may put a summary end to that barbarous struggle 
by the abolition of classes, the restoration of the land and of all 
the means of production, transportation and distribution to the 
people as a collective body, and the substitution of the cooperative 
Commonwealth for the present state of planless production, in- 
dustrial war and social disorder ; a Commonwealth in which every 
worker shall have the free exercise and full benefit of his faculties, 
multiplied by all the modern factors of civilization. 

The Republican National Convention met at Philadelphia 
on June 19. There was no contention over the platform, as 
there was in the convention of 1896, and the nomination of 
Mr. McKinley for a second term with absolute unanimity on 
the part of the delegates and the Republicans of the country, 
was fully assured. Almost the only active interest in the pro- 
ceedings of the convention was aroused over the nomination 
for Vice-President. Many names were proposed, and there was 
eager canvassing in behalf of some of them. But the movement 
in favor of Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, enlisted the most 
ardent support. Mr. Roosevelt was at the time governor of 
New York, and openly avowed his anxious desire to be nomi- 
nated and reelected to that position. He expressed with equal 
frankness his unwillingness to be nominated as a candidate for 
Vice-President. There was a strong pressure on the part of his 
fellow delegates from New York — for he was a member of 
the convention — to give him the national nomination; but 
that movement was credited to a desire on the part of the so- 
called leaders of the party in New York to get rid of him as 
a candidate for governor. Had the sentiment in his favor been 
confined to his own State he would have resisted to the last 
and refused to accept a nomination. But the West and South 
were equally favorable to him, and to them, ultimately, he 
yielded. 

The temporary chairman was Senator Edward 0. Wolcott, of 
Colorado, and the permanent president was Senator Henry 
Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts. On the second day of the con- 
vention a proposition was made, similar to the propositions 
submitted to previous conventions, to change the system of re- 
presentation by allowing each State to send four delegates at 



46 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

large and " one additional delegate for each ten thousand votes, 
or majority fraction thereof cast at the last preceding presi- 
dential election for Republican electors. " The proposed change 
was intended to reduce the representation of the Southern 
States, which furnish few electoral votes to the Republican 
candidates. It would have reduced the representation of South 
Carolina and Mississippi each from 18 to 5 ; of Louisiana from 
16 to 6 ; and of Texas from 30 to 21. It was opposed by the 
members from the Southern States, and was withdrawn, after 
a brief discussion. 

The Committee on Resolutions reported the following plat- 
form, which was unanimously adopted: — 

The Republicans of the United States, through their chosen 
representatives, met in National Convention, looking back upon an 
unsurpassed record of achievement and looking forward into a 
great field of duty and opportunity, and appealing to the judg- 
ment of their countrymen, make these declarations : 

The expectation in which the American people, turning from 
the Democratic party, intrusted power four years ago to a Repub- 
lican Chief Magistrate and a Republican Congress has been met 
and satisfied. When the people then assembled at the polls, after a 
term of Democratic legislation and administration, business was 
dead, industry paralyzed and the National credit disastrously im- 
paired. The country's capital was hidden away, and its labor dis- 
tressed and unemployed. The Democrats had no other plan with 
which to improve the ruinous conditions which they had them- 
selves produced than to coin silver at the ratio of 16 to 1. The Re- 
publican party, denouncing this plan as sure to produce conditions 
even worse than those from which relief was sought, promised to 
restore prosperity by means of two legislative measures — a pro- 
tective tariff and a law making gold the standard of value. The 
people by great majorities issued to the Republican party a com- 
mission to enact these laws. This commission has been executed, 
and the Republican promise is redeemed. Prosperity more general 
and more abundant than we have ever known has followed these 
enactments. There is no longer controversy as to the value of any 
Government obligation. Every American dollar is a gold dollar, 
or its assured equivalent, and American credit stands higher than 
that of any nation. Capital is fully employed and labor every- 
where is profitably occupied. No single fact can more strikingly 
tell the story of what Republican government means to the coun- 
try than this — that while during the whole period of one hundred 
and seven years, from 1790 to 1897, there was an excess of exports 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 47 

over imports of only $383,028,497, there has been in the short 
three years of the present Republican Administration an excess of 
exports over imports in the enormous sum of $1,483,537,094. 

And while the American people, sustained by this Republican 
legislation, have been achieving these splendid triumphs in their 
business and commerce, they have conducted, and in victory con- 
cluded, a war for liberty and human rights. No thought of Na- 
tional aggrandizement tarnished the high purpose with which 
American standards were unfurled. It was a war unsought and 
patiently resisted, but when it came the American Government was 
ready. Its fleets were cleared for action. Its armies were in the 
field, and the quick and signal triumph of its forces on land and 
sea bore equal tribute to the courage of American soldiers and 
sailors and to the skill and foresight of Republican statesman- 
ship. To ten millions of the human race there was given " a new 
birth of freedom," and to the American people a new and noble 
responsibility. 

We indorse the Administration of William McKinley. Its acts 
have been established in wisdom and in patriotism, and at home 
and abroad it has distinctly elevated and extended the influence 
of the American Nation. Walking untried paths and facing un- 
foreseen responsibilities, President McKinley has been in every 
situation the true American patriot and the upright statesman, 
clear in vision, strong in judgment, firm in action, always inspir- 
ing and deserving the confidence of his countrymen. 

In asking the American people to indorse this Republican record 
and to renew their commission to the Republican party, we remind 
them of the fact that the menace to their prosperity has always 
resided in Democratic principles, and no less in the general inca- 
pacity of the Democratic party to conduct public affairs. The prime 
essential of business prosperity is public confidence in the good 
sense of the Government and in its ability to deal intelligently 
with each new problem of administration and legislation. That 
confidence the Democratic party has never earned. It is hopelessly 
inadequate, and the country's prosperity when Democratic success 
at the polls is announced halts and ceases in mere anticipation of 
Democratic blunders and failures. 

We renew our allegiance to the principle of the gold standard, 
and declare our confidence in the wisdom of the legislation of the 
LVIth Congress, by which the parity of all our money and the 
stability of our currency upon a gold basis have been secured. We 
recognize that interest rates are a potent factor in production and 
business activity, and for the purpose of further equalizing and of 
further lowering the rates of interest we favor such monetary leg- 
islation as will enable the varying needs of the season and of all 



48 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

sections to be promptly met, in order that trade may be evenly 
sustained, labor steadily employed and commerce enlarged. The 
volume of money in circulation was never so great per capita as it 
is to-dayo We declare our steadfast opposition to the free and un- 
limited coinage of silver. No measure to that end could be consid- 
ered which was without the support of the leading commercial 
countries of the world. However firmly Republican legislation 
may seem to have secured the country against the peril of base 
and discredited currency, the election of a Democratic President 
could not fail to impair the country's credit and to bring once 
more into question the intention of the American people to main- 
tain upon the gold standard the parity of their money circulation. 
The Democratic party must be convinced that the American people 
will never tolerate the Chicago platform. 

We recognize the necessity and propriety of the honest cooper- 
ation of capital to meet new business conditions, and especially to 
extend our rapidly increasing foreign trade, but we condemn all 
conspiracies and combinations intended to restrict business, to 
create monopolies, to limit production or to control prices, and 
favor such legislation as will effectively restrain and prevent all 
such abuses, protect and promote competition and secure the 
rights of producers, laborers and all who are engaged in industry 
and commerce. 

We renew our faith in the policy of protection to American 
labor. In that policy our industries have been established, diversi- 
fied and maintained. By protecting the home market competition 
has been stimulated and production cheapened. Opportunity for 
the inventive genius of our people has been secured and wages in 
every department of labor maintained at high rates, higher now 
than ever before, and always distinguishing our working people 
in their better conditions of life from those of any competing 
country. Enjoying the blessings of the American common school, 
secure in the right of self-government and protected in the occu- 
pancy of their own markets, their constantly increasing knowledge 
and skill have enabled them finally to enter the markets of the 
world. 

We favor the associated policy of reciprocity so directed as to 
open our" markets on favorable terms for what we do not ourselves 
produce, in return for free foreign markets. 

In the further interest of American workmen we favor a more 
effective restriction of the immigration of cheap labor from foreign 
lands, the extension of opportunities of education for working 
children, the raising of the age limit for child labor, tjae protection 
of free labor as against contract convict labor, and an effective 
system of labor insurance. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 49 

Our present dependence upon foreign shipping for nine-tenths 
of our foreign carrying is a great loss to the industry of this coun- 
try. It is also a serious danger to our trade, for its sudden with- 
drawal in the event of European war would seriously cripple our 
expanding foreign commerce. The National defence and naval 
efficiency of this country, moreover, supply a compelling reason 
for legislation which will enable us to recover our former place 
among the trade carrying fleets of the world. 

The Nation owes a debt of profound gratitude to the soldiers 
and sailors who have fought its battles, and it is the Government's 
duty to provide for the survivors and for the widows and orphans 
of those who have fallen in the country's wars. The pension laws, 
founded in this just sentiment, should be liberal, and should be 
liberally administered, and preference should be given wherever 
practicable with respect to employment in the public service to 
soldiers and sailors and to their widows and orphans. 

We commend the policy of the Republican party in maintaining 
the efficiency of the Civil Service. The Administration has acted 
wisely in its effort to secure for public service in Cuba, Porto Rico, 
Hawaii and the Philippine Islands only those whose fitness has 
been determined by training and experience. We believe that em- 
ployment in the public service in these territories should be con- 
fined as far as practicable to their inhabitants. 

It was the plain purpose of the Fifteenth Amendment to the 
Constitution to prevent discrimination on account of race or color 
in regulating the elective franchise. Devices of State governments, 
whether by statutory or constitutional enactment, to avoid the 
purpose of this amendment are revolutionary and should be con- 
demned. 

Public movements looking to a permanent improvement of the 
roads and highways of the country meet, with our cordial approval, 
and we recommend this subject to the earnest consideration of the 
people and of the Legislatures of the several States. 

We favor the extension of the rural free delivery service where- 
ever its extension may be justified. 

In further pursuance of the constant policy of the Republican 
party to provide free homes on the public domain, we recommend 
adequate National legislation to reclaim the arid lands of the United 
States, reserving control of the distribution of water for irrigation 
to the respective States and Territories. 

We favor home rule for and the early admission to Statehood 
of the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma. 

The Dingley act, amended to provide sufficient revenue for the 
conduct of the war, has so well performed its work that it has been 
jJMsible to reduce the war debt in the sum of $40,000,000. So ample 



50 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

are the Government's revenues and so great is the public confidence 
in the integrity of its obligations that its newly funded 2 per cent 
bonds sell at a premium. The country is now justified in expecting, 
and it will be the policy of the Republican party to bring about, 
a reduction of the war taxes. 

We favor the construction, ownership, control and protection 
of an isthmian canal by the Government of the United States. New 
markets are necessary for the increasing surplus of our farm pro- 
ducts. Every effort should be made to open and obtain new markets, 
especially in the Orient, and the Administration is warmly to be 
commended for its successful effort to commit all trading and col- 
onizing nations to the policy of the open door in China. 

In the interest of our expanding commerce we recommend that 
Congress create a department of commerce and industries in the 
charge of a secretary with a seat in the Cabinet. 

The United States consular system should be reorganized under 
the supervision of this new department, upon such a basis of ap- 
pointment and tenure as will render it still more serviceable to 
the Nation's increasing trade. 

The American Government must protect the person and property 
of every citizen wherever they are wrongfully violated or placed 
in peril. 

We congratulate the women of America upon their splendid rec- 
ord of public service in the volunteer aid association, and as nurses 
in camp and hospital during the recent campaigns of our armies 
in the Eastern and Western Indies, and we appreciate their faith- 
ful cooperation in all works of education and industry. 

President McKinley has conducted the foreign affairs of the 
United States with distinguished credit to the American people. 
In releasing us from the vexatious conditions of a European alli- 
ance for the government of Samoa his course is especially to be 
commended. By securing to our undivided control the most im- 
portant island of the Samoan group and the best harbor in the 
Southern Pacific, every American interest has been safeguarded. 

We approve the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the 
United States. 

We commend the part taken by our Government in the Peace 
Conference at The Hague. 

We assert our steadfast adherence to the policy announced in 
the Monroe Doctrine. The provisions of The Hague Convention 
were wisely regarded when President McKinley tendered his 
friendly offices in the interest of peace between Great Britain and 
the South African republics. While the American Government 
must continue the policy prescribed by Washington, affirmed by 
every succeeding President and imposed upon us by The Hague 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 51 

Treaty, of non-intervention in European controversies, the Ameri- 
can people earnestly hope that a way may soon be found, honorable 
alike to both contending parties, to terminate the strife between 
them. 

In accepting by the Treaty of Paris the just responsibility of our 
victories in the Spanish war the President and the Senate won 
the undoubted approval of the American people. No other course 
was possible than to destroy Spain's sovereignty throughout the 
West Indies and in the Philippine Islands. That course created 
our responsibility before the world, and with the unorganized 
population whom our intervention had freed from Spain, to pro- 
vide for the maintenance of law and order, and for the establish- 
ment of good government and for the performance of international 
obligations. Our authority could not be less than our responsibility, 
and wherever sovereign rights were extended it became the high 
duty of the Government to maintain its authority, to put down 
armed insurrection and to confer the blessings of liberty and civ- 
ilization upon all the rescued peoples. 

The largest measure of self-government consistent with their 
welfare and our duties shall be secured to them by law. 

To Cuba independence and self-government were assured in the 
same voice by which war was declared, and to the letter this pledge 
will be performed. 

The Republican party upon its history, and upon this declaration 
of its principles and policies, confidently invokes the considerate 
and approving judgment of the American people. 

On the third day of the convention William McKinley, of 
Ohio, was nominated for President and Theodore Roosevelt, of 
New York, for Vice-President. In each case the roll of the 
States was called and the vote was unanimous. But Mr. Roose- 
velt received one vote less than the 92G given to Mr. McKin- 
ley, as his own vote was withheld. 

The National Prohibition party held its convention at Chi- 
cago on June 27, and the following day. Samuel Dickie, of 
Michigan, was the president of the convention, which consisted 
of more than seven hundred delegates, representing forty 
States of the Union. There was an earnest contest in the com- 
mittee on Resolutions over the question whether the platform 
should express the principles of the party on the single sub- 
ject of the liquor traffic, or should be a "broad" platform and 
treat of other questions of the day, as had been the custom of 
the party in the past. In the end the victory was with those 
who adv<&c,a£ed a platform of a single plank. The controversy 



52 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

was not carried into the convention, and the platform as re- 
ported, was adopted, in the following terms : — 

The National Prohibition party, in convention represented at 
Chicago, June 27 and 28, 1900, acknowledges Almighty God as 
the supreme source of all just government. Realizing that this 
Republic was founded upon Christian principles, and can endure 
only as it embodies justice and righteousness, and asserting that 
all authority should seek the best good of all the governed, to this 
end wisely prohibiting what is wrong and permitting only what is 
right, hereby records and proclaims : 

First, We accept and assert the definition given by Edward 
Burke, that a party is " a body of men joined together for the pur- 
pose of protecting by their joint endeavor the national interest 
upon some particular principle upon which they are all agreed." 

We declare that there is no principle now advocated by any 
other party which could be made a fact in government with such 
beneficent moral and material results as the principle of prohibi- 
tion applied to the beverage liquor traffic; that the national inter- 
est could be promoted in no other way so surely and so widely as 
by its adoption and assertion through a national policy, and a co- 
operation therein by every state, forbidding the manufacture, sale, 
exportation, importation and transportation of intoxicating liquor 
for beverage purposes ; that we stand for this as the only principle 
proposed by any party anywhere for the settlement of a question 
greater and graver than any other before the American people, 
and involving more profoundly than any other their moral future 
and financial welfare ; and that all the patriotic citizenship of this 
country agreed upon this principle, however much disagreement 
there may be as to minor considerations and issues, should stand 
together at the ballot box from this time forward, until prohibi- 
tion is the established policy of the United States, with a party in 
power to enforce it and to insure its moral and material benefits. 

We insist that such a party, agreed upon this principle and 
policy, having sober leadership, without any obligation for suc- 
cess to the saloon vote and to those demoralizing combinations, 
can successfully cope with all other and lesser problems of gov- 
ernment, in legislative halls and in the executive chair, and that 
it is useless for any party to make declarations in its platform as 
to any questions concerning which there may be serious differ- 
ences of opinion in its own membership, and as to which, because 
of such differences, the party could legislate only on a basis of 
mutual concessions when coming into power. 

We submit that the Democratic and Republican parties are 
alike insincere in their assumed hostility to trusts and monopolies. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 53 

They dare not and do not attack the most dangerous of them all, 
the liquor power. So long as the saloon debauches the citizen and 
breeds the purchaseable voter, money will continue to buy its way 
to power. Break down this traffic, elevate manhood, and a sober 
citizenship will find a way to control dangerous combinations of 
capital. 

We propose, as a first step in the financial problem of the na- 
tion, to save more than a billion dollars every year, now 7 annually 
expended to support the liquor traffic and to demoralize our peo- 
ple. When that is accomplished, conditions will have so improved 
that with a clearer atmosphere the country can address itself to 
the questions as to the kind and quantity of currency needed. 

Second. We reaffirm as true indisputably the declaration of 
William Windom when Secretary of the Treasury in the Cabinet 
of President Arthur, that " Considered socially, financially, po- 
litically or morally, the licensed liquor traffic is or ought to be the 
overwhelming issue in American politics," and that " the destruc- 
tion of this iniquity stands next on the calendar of the world's 
progress." We hold that the existence of our party presents this 
issue squarely to the American people, and lays upon them the 
responsibility of choice between liquor parties, dominated by dis- 
tillers and brewers, with their policy of saloon perpetuation, breed- 
ing waste, wickedness, woe, pauperism, taxation, corruption and 
crime, and our one party of patriotic and moral principle, with a 
policy which defends it from domination by corrupt bosses and 
which insures it forever against the blighting control of saloon 
politics. 

We face with sorrow, shame and fear the awful fact that this 
liquor traffic has a grip on our government, municipal, State and 
National, through the revenue system and saloon sovereignty, 
which no other party dares to dispute ; a grip which dominates 
the party now in power, from caucus to Congress, from policeman 
to President, from the rumshop to the White House ; a grip w T hich 
compels the Chief Executive to consent that law shall be nullified 
in behalf of the brewer, that the canteen shall curse our Armv 
and spread intemperance across the seas, and that our flag shall 
wave as the symbol of partnership at home and abroad between 
this Government and the men who defy and defile it for their un- 
holy gain. 

Third. We charge upon President McKinley, who was elected to 
his high office by appeals to Christian sentiment and patriotism 
almost unprecedented, and by a combination of moral influences 
never before seen in this country, that, by his conspicuous exam- 
ple as a winedrinker at public banquets and as a wine-serving host 
in the White House, he has done more to encourage the liquor 



54 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

business, to demoralize the temperance habits of young men, and 
to bring Christian practices and requirements into disrepute, than 
any other President this Republic has ever had. We further charge 
upon President McKinley responsibility for the Army canteen, with 
all its dire brood of disease, immorality, sin and death, in this 
country, in Cuba, in Porto Rico and the Philippines ; and we in- 
sist that by his attitude concerning the canteen, and his apparent 
contempt for the vast number of petitions and petitioners protest- 
ing against it, he has outraged and insulted the moral sentiment 
of this country in such a manner and to such a degree as calls for 
its righteous uprising and his indignant and effective rebuke. 

We challenge denial of the fact that our Chief Executive, as 
commander in chief of the military forces of the United States, at 
any time prior to or since March 2, 1899, could have closed every 
army saloon, called a canteen, by executive order, as President 
Hayes in effect did before him, and should have closed them, for 
the same reason that actuated President Hayes ; we assert that the 
act of Congress passed March 2, 1899, forbidding the sale of liquor, 
"in any post exchange or canteen," by any " officer or private 
soldier" or by " any other person on any premises used for mili- 
tary purposes in the United States," was and is as explicit an act 
of prohibition as the English language can frame. 

We declare our solemn belief that the Attorney-General of the 
United States in his interpretation of that law, and the Secretary 
of War in his acceptance of that interpretation and his refusal to 
enforce the law, were and are guilty of treasonable nullification 
thereof, and that President McKinley, through his assent to and 
indorsement of such interpretation and refusal on the part of offi- 
cials appointed by and responsible to him, shares responsibility 
in their guilt ; and we record our conviction that a new and seri- 
ous peril confronts our country, in the fact that its President, at 
the behest of the beer power, dare and does abrogate a law of Con- 
gress, through subordinates removable at will by him and whose 
acts become his, and thus virtually confesses that laws are to be 
administered or to be nullified in the interest of a law-defying 
business, by an Administration under mortgage to such business 
for support. 

Fourth. We deplore the fact that an Administration of this Re- 
public claiming the right and power to carry our flag across seas, 
and to conquer and annex new territory, should admit its lack of 
power to prohibit the American saloon on subjugated soil, or should 
openly confess itself subject to liquor sovereignty under that flag. 
We are humiliated, exasperated and grieved by the evidence pain- 
fully abundant that this Administration's policy of expansion is 
bearing so rapidly its first fruits of drunkenness, insanity and 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 55 

crime under the hothouse sun of the tropics ; and when the presi- 
dent of the first Philippine Commission says " It was unfortunate 
that we introduced and established the saloon there, to corrupt the 
natives and to exhibit the vices of our race," we charge the inhu- 
manity and un-Christianity of this act upon the Administration 
of William McKinley and upon the party which elected and would 
perpetuate the same. 

Fifth. We declare that the only policy which the Government 
of the United States can of right uphold as to the liquor traffic, 
under the National Constitution, upon any territory under the 
military or civil control of that Government, is the policy of pro- 
hibition ; that " to establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, 
provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and 
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity," as 
the Constitution provides, the liquor traffic must neither be sanc- 
tioned nor tolerated, and that the revenue policy which makes our 
Government a partner with distillers and brewers and barkeepers 
is a disgrace to our civilization, an outrage upon humanity and a 
crime against God. We condemn the present Administration at 
Washington because it has repealed the prohibitory laws in Alaska, 
and has given over the partly civilized tribes there to be the prey 
of the American grog shop; and because it has entered upon a 
license policy in our new possessions by incorporating the same in 
the recent act of Congress in the code of laws for the government 
of the Hawaiian Islands. 

We call general attention to the fearful fact that exportation of 
liquors from the United States to the Philippine Islands increased 
in value from $337 in 1898 to $467,198 in the first ten months of 
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1900; and that while our exporta- 
tion of liquors to Cuba never reached $30,000 a year previous to 
American occupation of that island, our exports of such liquors to 
Cuba during the fiscal year of 1899 reached the sum of $629,855. 

Sixth. One great religious body (the Baptist) having truly de- 
clared of the liquor traffic " that it has no defensible right to exist, 
that it can never be reformed, and that it stands condemned by its 
unrighteous fruits as a thing uu-Christian, un-American, and per- 
ilous utterly to every interest in life ; " another great religious body 
(the Methodist) having as truly asserted and reiterated that " no 
political party has a right to expect, nor should it receive, the votes 
of Christian men so long as it stands committed to the license sys- 
tem, or refuses to put itself on record in an attitude of open hos- 
tility to the saloon ; " other great religious bodies having made 
similar deliverances, in language plain and unequivocal, as to the 
liquor traffic and the duty of Christian citizenship in opposition 
thereto ; and the fact being plain and undeniable that the Demo- 



56 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

cratic party stands for license, the saloon and the canteen, while 
the Republican party, in policy and administration, stand for the 
canteen, the saloon and the revenue therefrom, we declare our- 
selves justified in expecting that Christian voters everywhere shall 
cease their complicity with the liquor curse by refusing to uphold 
a liquor party, and shall unite themselves with the only party 
which upholds the prohibition policy, and which for nearly thirty 
years has been the faithful defender of the Church, the State, the 
home and the school, against the saloon, its expanders andperpet- 
uators, their actual and persistent foes. 

We insist that no differences of belief as to any other question 
or concern of government should stand in the way of such a union of 
moral and Christian citizenship as we hereby invite for the speedy 
settlement of this paramount moral, industrial, financial and polit- 
ical issue which our party presents ; and we refrain from declaring 
ourselves upon all minor matters as to which differences of opinion 
may exist that thereby we may offer to the American people a plat- 
form so broad that all can stand upon it who desire to see sober 
citizenship actually sovereign over the allied hosts of evil, sin and 
crime, in a government of the people, by the people, and for the 
people. 

We declare that there are but two real parties to-day concerning 
the liquor traffic — perpetuationists and Prohibitionists; and that 
patriotism, Christianity, and every interest of genuine and of pure 
democracy, besides the loyal demands of our common humanity, 
require the speedy union, in one solid phalanx at the ballot box. 
of all who oppose the liquor traffic's perpetuation, and who covet 
endurance for this Republic. 

There was a short contest over the nominations, but John 
G. Woolley, of Illinois, was chosen as the candidate for Presi- 
dent by 380 votes to 329 given to Silas C. Swallow, of Penn- 
sylvania ; and Henry B. Metcalf, of Rhode Island, was nomi- 
nated for Vice-President over Thomas R. Carskadden, of West 
Virginia, and E. L. Eaton, of Iowa. 

The Democratic National Convention met at Kansas City 
on the 4th of July. Governor Charles S. Thomas, of Colorado, 
was the temporary chairman and James D. Richardson, of Ten- 
nessee, the permanent president of the convention. 

The unanimous nomination of Mr. William J. Bryan as can- 
didate for President was assured, but there was a most earnest 
controversy over the platform during the period just preceding 
the convention. A large number of the members of the party, 



"IMPERIALISM 5 ' THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 57 

many of them prominent delegates to the convention were in 
favor of making the silver issue much less prominent than it 
was in 1896. Some of these men had supported the ticket four 
years before, others had not. Some of them were advocates of 
free coinage, others were not. But they were all opposed to an 
explicit declaration in favor of free coinage at the ratio of 16 
to 1. Those who still adhered in theory to that measure be- 
lieved that it would be good policy to subordinate that issue 
to the newer one of anti-imperialism; and although they did 
not object to a vague declaration on the silver issue, they did 
urge that a repetition of the 1896 platform would continue to 
alienate many voters who would willingly return to their old 
party allegiance. Former Governor and Senator David B. Hill, of 
New York, was prominent in pressing this view upon the dele- 
gates, as they arrived in Kansas City. Either on his own motion, 
or at the request of Mr. Bryan, he made the journey to Lincoln, 
Nebraska, for a consultation with the prospective candidate. 

His mission was fruitless. Mr. Bryan maintained that the 
position taken by the party in 1896 was right ; that thousands 
upon thousands of "his supporters in that campaign still re- 
garded the silver issue as the most important of all ; and that they 
would justly denounce it as an act of treachery on his part if 
he were to accept a nomination on a platform less explicit than 
that of the preceding canvass. He was unmoved by the argu- 
ment that by yielding the point he would gain votes in States 
where an increase of the Democratic strength was greatly 
needed, and was indispensable to victory. If he agreed that 
such would be the result, he was also sure that his surrender 
would be followed by a serious loss of votes in States where 
he had already gained them on the silver issue. 

Notwithstanding the failure to persuade Mr. Bryan to take 
the view that it would be good policy to let the silver issue 
drop partly out of sight, and notwithstanding the sentiment 
that the candidate should have a controlling part in the con- 
struction of the platform, the contest was carried into the 
Committee on Resolutions and the matter was debated long 
and earnestly. Ultimately Mr. Bryan's wishes were respected, 
but the vote was close, and attention was called to the fact 
that the majority in favor of the silver clauses was obtained by 
the votes of members from States which could by no possibility 
give Mr. Bryan a single electoral vote. The platform, on which 
there was no contest in the convention was as follows : — 



58 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

We, the representatives of the Democratic party of the United 
States, assembled in National Convention on the anniversary of 
the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, do reaffirm our 
faith in that immortal proclamation of the inalienable rights of 
man, and our allegiance to the Constitution framed in harmony 
therewith by the fathers of the Republic. 

We hold with the United States Supreme Court that the De- 
claration of Independence is the spirit of our Government, of which 
the Constitution is the form and letter. We declare again that all 
governments instituted among men derive their just powers from the 
consent of the governed ; that any government not based upon the 
consent of the governed is a tyranny ; and that to impose upon any 
people a government of force is to substitute the methods of im- 
perialism for those of a republic. We hold that the Constitution 
follows the flag and denounce the doctrine that an Executive or 
Congress, deriving their existence and their powers from the 
Constitution, can exercise lawful authority beyond it, or in vio- 
lation of it. We assert that no nation can long endure half 
republic and half empire, and we warn the American people that 
imperialism abroad will lead quickly and inevitably to despotism 
at home. 

Believing in these fundamental principles, we denounce the 
Porto Rican law, enacted by a Republican Congress against the 
protest and opposition of the Democratic minority, as a bold and 
open violation of the Nation's organic law and a flagrant breach of 
National good faith. 

It imposes upon the people of Porto Rico a government without 
their consent, and taxation without representation. 

It dishonors the American people by repudiating a solemn pledge 
made in their behalf by the commanding general of our Army, 
which the Porto Ricans welcomed to a peaceful and unresisted 
occupation of their land. 

It dooms to poverty and distress a people whose helplessness 
appeals with peculiar force to our justice and magnanimity. In 
this, the first act of its imperialistic programme, the Republican 
party seeks to commit the United States to a colonial policy incon- 
sistent with republican institutions and condemned by the Supreme 
Court in numerous decisions. % 

We demand the prompt and honest fulfilment of our pledge to 
the Cuban people and the w 7 orld, that the United States has no 
disposition nor intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or 
control over the island of Cuba, except for its pacification. The 
war ended nearly two years ago, profound peace reigns over all the 
island, and still the Administration keeps the government of the 
island from its people, while Republican carpetbag officials plun- 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 59 

der its revenues and exploit the colonial theory to the disgrace 
of the American people. 

We condemn and denounce the Philippine policy of the present 
Administration. It has embroiled the Republic in an unnecessary 
war, sacrificed the lives of many of its noblest sons, and placed the 
United States, previously known and applauded throughout the 
world as the champion of freedom, in the false and un-American 
position of crushing with military force the efforts of our former 
allies to achieve liberty and self-government. 

The Filipinos cannot be citizens without endangering our civ- 
ilization ; they cannot be subjects without imperilling our form of 
government ; and as we are not willing to surrender our civilization, 
or to convert the Republic into an empire, we favor an immediate 
declaration of the Nation's purpose to give to the Filipinos, first, a 
stable form of government ; second, independence ; and third, pro- 
tection from outside interference such as has been given for nearly 
a century to the republics of Central and South America. 

The greedy commercialism which dictated the Philippine policy 
of the Republican Administration attempts to justify it with the 
plea that it will pay, but even this sordid and unworthy plea fails 
when brought to the test of facts. 

The war of '• criminal aggression " against the Filipinos, entail- 
ing an annual expense of many millions, has already cost more 
than any possible profit that could accrue from the entire Philip- 
pine trade for years to come. Furthermore, when trade is extended 
at the expense of liberty the price is always too high. 

We are not opposed to territorial expansion, when it takes in 
desirable territory which can be erected into States in the Union, 
and whose people are willing and fit to become American citizens. 
We favor trade expansion by every peaceful and legitimate means. 
But we are unalterably opposed to the seizing or purchasing of 
distant islands to be governed outside the Constitution and whose 
people can never become citizens. 

We are in favor of extending the Republic's influence among 
the nations, but believe that influence should be extended not by 
force and violence, but through the persuasive power of a high and 
honorable example. 

The importance of other questions now pending before the 
American people is in nowise diminished and the Democratic party 
takes no backward step from its position on them ; but the burn- 
ing issue of imperialism, growing out of the Spanish war, involves 
the very existence of the Republic and the destruction of our free 
institutions. We regard it as the paramount issue of the campaign. 

The declaration of the Republican platform adopted at the Phila- 
delphia Convention, held in June, 1900, that the Republican party 



60 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

" steadfastly adheres to the policy announced in the Monroe Doc- 
trine," is manifestly insincere and deceptive. This profession is 
contradicted by* the avowed policy of that party, in opposition to 
the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine, to acquire and hold sovereignty 
over large areas of territory and large numbers of people in the 
Eastern Hemisphere. 

We insist on the strict maintenance of the Monroe Doctrine 
in all its integrity, both in letter and in spirit, as necessary to pre- 
vent the extension of European authority on these continents and 
as essential to our supremacy in American affairs. At the same 
time we declare that no American people shall ever be held by 
force in unwilling subjection to European authority. 

We oppose militarism. It means conquest abroad and intimida- 
tion and oppression at home. It means the strong arm which has 
ever been fatal to free institutions. It is what millions of our citi- 
zens have fled from in Europe. It will impose upon our peace- 
loving people a large standing army, an unnecessary burden of 
taxation, and would be a constant menace to their liberties. A 
small standing army and a well disciplined State militia are amply 
sufficient in time of peace. 

This Republic has no place for a vast military establishment, a 
sure forerunner of compulsory military service and conscription. 
When the Nation is in danger the volunteer soldier is his country's 
best defender. The National Guard of the United States should 
ever be cherished in the patriotic hearts of a free people. Such or- 
ganizations are ever an element of strength and safety. For the 
first time in our history and coeval with the Philippine conquest 
has there been a wholesale departure from our time-honored and 
approved system of volunteer organization. We denounce it as un- 
American, undemocratic and unrepublican and as a subversion of 
the ancient and fixed principles of a free people. 

Private monopolies are indefensible and intolerable. They de- 
stroy competition, control the price of raw material and of the 
finished product, thus robbing both producer and consumer. They 
lessen the employment of labor and arbitrarily fix the terms and 
conditions thereof ; and deprive individual energy and small capi- 
tal of their opportunity for betterment. They are the most efficient 
means yet devised for appropriating the fruits of industry to the 
benefit of the few at the expense of the many, and, unless their 
insatiate greed is checked, all wealth will be aggregated in a few 
hands and the Republic destroyed. 

The dishonest paltering with the trust evil by the Republican 
party in its State and National platforms is conclusive proof of the 
truth of the charge that trusts are the legitimate product of Repub- 
lican policies, that they are fostered by Republican laws, and that 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 61 

they are protected by the Republican Administration in return for 
campaign subscriptions and political support. 

We pledge the Democratic party to an unceasing warfare in Na- 
tion, State, and city against private monopoly in every form. Exist- 
ing laws against trusts must be enforced and more stringent ones 
must be enacted providing for publicity as to the affairs of corpo- 
rations engaged in interstate commerce and requiring all corpora- 
tions to show, before doing business outside of the State of their 
origin, that they have no water in their stock, and that they have 
not attempted and are not attempting to monopolize any branch 
of business or the production of any articles of merchandise ; and 
the whole constitutional power of Congress over interstate com- 
merce, the mails and all modes of interstate communication shall 
be exercised by the enactment of comprehensive laws upon the sub- 
ject of trusts. Tariff laws should be amended by putting the pro- 
ducts of trusts upon the free list, to prevent monopoly under the 
plea of protection. 

The failure of the present Republican Administration, with an 
absolute control over all the branches of the National Government, 
to enact any legislation designed to prevent or even curtail the ab- 
sorbing power of trusts and illegal combinations, or to enforce the 
anti-trust laws already on the statute books, proves the insincerity 
of the high-sounding phrases of the Republican platform. 

Corporations should be protected in all their rights and their 
legitimate interests should be respected, but any attempt by cor- 
porations to interfere with the public affairs of the people or to 
control the sovereignty which creates them should be forbidden 
under such penalties as will make such attempts impossible. 

We condemn the Dingley tariff law as a trust-breeding measure 
skilfully devised to give to the few favors which they do not deserve, 
and to place upon the many burdens which they should not bear. 

We favor such an enlargement of the scope of the Interstate 
Commerce law as will enable the Commission to protect individu- 
als and communities from discrimination and the public from un- 
just and unfair transportation rates. 

We reaffirm and indorse the principles of the National Demo- 
cratic platform adopted at Chicago in 1896 and we reiterate the 
demand of that platform for an American financial system made 
by the American people for themselves, which shall restore and 
maintain a bimetallic price level, and as part of such system the 
immediate restoration of the free and unlimited coinage of silver 
and gold at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, without waiting for 
the aid or consent of any other nation. 

We denounce the currency bill enacted at the last session of Con- 
gress as a step forward in the Republican policy which aims to 



62 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

discredit the sovereign right of the National Government to issue 
all money, whether coin or paper, and to bestow upon National 
banks the power to issue and control the volume of paper money 
for their own benefit. A permanent National bank currency, se- 
cured by Government bonds, must have a permanent debt to rest 
upon, and, if the bank currency is to increase with population and 
business, the debt must also increase. The Republican currency 
scheme is, therefore, a scheme for fastening upon the taxpayers a 
perpetual and growing debt for the benefit of the banks. We are 
opposed to this private corporation paper circulated as money, but 
without legal tender qualities, and demand the retirement of Na- 
tional bank notes as fast as Government paper or silver certificates 
can be substituted for them. 

We favor an amendment to the Federal Constitution providing 
for the election of United States Senators by direct vote of the 
people, and we favor direct legislation wherever practicable. 

We are opposed to government by injunction ; we denounce the 
black-list, and favor arbitration as a means of settling disputes 
between corporations and their employees. 

In the interest of American labor and the upbuilding of the 
workingman as the cornerstone of the prosperity of our country, 
we recommend that Congress create a Department of Labor, in 
charge of a Secretary, with a seat in the Cabinet, believing that the 
elevation of the American laborer will bring with it increased pro- 
duction and increased prosperity to our country at home and to our 
commerce abroad. 

We are proud of the courage and fidelity of the American sol- 
diers and sailors in all our wars ; we favor liberal pensions to them 
and their dependents ; and we reiterate the position taken in the 
Chicago platform in 1896, that the fact of enlistment and service 
shall be deemed conclusive evidence against disease and disability 
before enlistment. 

We favor the immediate construction, ownership and control of 
the Nicaraguan Canal by the United States, and we denounce the 
insincerity of the plank in the Republican National platform for 
an Isthmian canal, in the face of the failure of the Republican 
majority to pass the bill pending in Congress. We condemn the 
Hay-Pauncefote treaty as a surrender of American rights and in- 
terests, not to be tolerated by the American people. 

We denounce the failure of the Republican party to carry out its 
pledges to grant statehood to the Territories of Arizona, New Mex- 
ico and Oklahoma, and we promise the people of those Territories 
immediate statehood, and home rule during their condition as Ter- 
ritories ; and we favor home rule and a territorial form of govern- 
ment for Alaska and Porto Rico. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 63 

We favor an intelligent system of improving the arid lands of 
the West, storing the waters for the purposes of irrigation, and the 
holding of such lands for actual settlers. 

We favor the continuance and strict enforcement of the Chinese 
Exclusion law and its application to the same classes of all Asiatic 
races. 

Jefferson said : " Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all 
nations, entangling alliances with none." We approve this whole- 
some doctrine and earnestly protest against the Republican depart- 
ure which has involved us in so-called world politics, including the 
diplomacy of Europe and the intrigue and land grabbing in Asia, 
and we especially condemn the ill concealed Republican alliance 
with England, which must mean discrimination against other 
friendly nations, and which has already stifled the Nation's voice 
while liberty is being strangled in Africa. 

Believing in the principles of self-government and rejecting, as 
did our forefathers, the claims of monarchy, we view with indigna- 
tion the purpose of England to overwhelm with force the South 
African Republics. Speaking, as we believe, for the entire Ameri- 
can Nation, except its Republican officeholders, and for all free 
men everywhere, we extend our sympathy to the heroic burghers 
in their unequal struggle to maintain their liberty and independ- 
ence. 

We denounce the lavish appropriations of recent Republican 
Congresses, which have kept taxes high and which threaten the 
perpetuation of the oppressive war levies. We oppose the accumu- 
lation of a surplus to be squandered in such barefaced frauds upon 
the taxpayers as the Shipping Subsidy bill, which, under the false 
pretence of fostering American shipbuilding, would put unearned 
millions into the pockets of favorite contributors to the Republican 
campaign fund. We favor the reduction and speedy repeal of the 
war taxes, and a return to the time-honored Democratic policy of 
strict economy in governmental expenditures. 

Believing that our most cherished institutions are in great peril, 
that the very existence of our constitutional Republic is at stake, 
and that the decision now to be rendered will determine whether 
or not our children are to enjoy those blessed privileges of free 
government which have made the United States great, prosperous 
and honored, we earnestly ask for the foregoing declaration of prin- 
ciples the hearty support of the liberty-loving American people, 
regardless of previous party affiliations. 

On the third day of the convention, July 6, William J. 
Bryan was unanimously nominated as a candidate for President. 
The convention voted for a candidate for Vice-President with the 



64 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

result that Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois, had 559*4 votes, 
David B. Hill, of New York, 200, Charles A. Towne, of Minne- 
sota, 112}^, and there were many scattering votes. Before the 
result was declared all the votes for other candidates were trans- 
ferred to Mr. Stevenson, and he was unanimously nominated. 
The Silver Republican party also held its convention at Kan- 
sas City on July 4. Senator Henry M. Teller, of Colorado, was 
the temporary Chairman, and Judge L. W. Brown, of Ohio, the 
permanent President. It was a mass convention rather than 
one made up of duly elected delegates. Although twenty-one 
States were reported to be represented, the number of persons 
who acted in the convention from the several States varied 
greatly, from 287 reported from Kansas, and one hundred or 
more from three other States to less than a score each from ten 
other States, one of which, Texas, sent but two members. The 
whole number reported was 1057. The convention, on July 6, 
accepted Mr. Bryan as candidate for President. Many of the 
members wished to add to the ticket the name of Mr. Towne, 
the candidate of the Fusion Populists for Vice-President, and 
that action was prevented only by the most earnest argument 
and persuasion by those who regarded such action as a disas- 
trous division of the voters who favored Mr. Bryan's candi- 
dacy. Mr. Towne joined in the opposition to the designation 
of himself as a candidate. Ultimately the convention referred 
the nomination of a candidate for Vice-President to the national 
committee, by which the nomination of Mr. Stevenson was en- 
dorsed. The following platform was adopted : — 

We, the Silver Republican party, in National Convention assem- 
bled, declare these as our principles, and invite the cooperation of 
all who agree therewith : 

We recognize that the principles set forth in the Declaration of 
American Independence are fundamental and everlastingly true in 
their application to governments among men. We believe the patri- 
otic words of Washington's farewell address to be the words of 
soberness and wisdom, inspired by the spirit of right and truth. 
We treasure the words of Jefferson as priceless gems of American 
statesmanship. We hold in sacred remembrance the patriotism of 
Lincoln, who was the great interpreter of American history and 
the apostle of human rights and of industrial freedom, and we de- 
clare, as was declared by the convention that nominated the great 
Emancipator, that the maintenance of the principles promulgated 
in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 65 

Constitution, " that all men are created equal ; that they are en- 
dowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among 
these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure 
these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving 
their just powers from the consent of the governed," is essential 
to the preservation of our republican institutions. 

We declare our adherence to the principles of bimetallism as 
the right basis of a monetary system under our National Consti- 
tution, a principle that found place repeatedly in Republican plat- 
forms from the demonetization of silver in 1873 to the St. Louis 
Republican Convention of 1896. Since that Convention a Republi- 
can Congress and a Republican President, at the dictation of the 
trusts and money power, have passed and approved a currency bill 
which in itself is a repudiation of the docrine of bimetallism ad- 
vocated theretofore by the President and every great leader of his 
party. This currency law destroys the full money power of the 
silver dollar, provides for the payment of all Government obliga- 
tions and the redemption of all forms of paper money in gold 
alone, retires the time-honored and patriotic greenback, constitut- 
ing one-sixth of the money in circulation, and surrenders to bank- 
ing corporations the sovereign function of issuing all paper money, 
thus enabling these corporations to control the prices of labor and 
property, and increasing the power of the banks to create panics 
and bring disaster upon business enterprises. The provision of this 
currency law making the bonded debt of the Nation payable in 
gold alone changes the contract between the Government and the 
bondholders to the advantage of the latter, and is in direct oppo- 
sition to the declaration of the Matthews resolution passed by Con- 
gress in 1878, for which resolution the present Republican Presi- 
dent, then a member of Congress, voted, as did also all leading 
Republicans, both in the House and Senate. We demand the repeal 
of this currency law, and declare that we shall not cease our efforts 
until there has been established in its place a monetary system 
based upon the free and unlimited coinage of silver and gold into 
money at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1, by the independent 
action of the United States, under which system all money shall 
be issued by the Government, and all money coined and issued 
shall be a full legal tender in payment of all debts, public and pri- 
vate, without exception. 

We approve a graduated tax upon incomes ; and if necessary to 
accomplish this, we favor an amendment to the Constitution. 

We believe that United States Senators should be elected by 
direct vote of the people, and we favor such amendment of the Con- 
stitution and such legislation as may be necessary to that end. 

We favor the maintenance and the extension wherever prac- 



66 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

ticable of the merit system in public service, appointments to be 
made according to fitness, competitively ascertained, and public 
servants to be retained in office only so long as shall be compatible 
with the efficiency of the service. 

Combinations, trusts and monopolies, contrived and created for 
the purpose of controlling the prices and quantity of articles sup- 
plied to the public, are unjust, oppressive and unlawful. Not only 
do these unlawful conspiracies fix the prices of commodities, but 
they invade every branch of State and National government with 
their polluting influences, and control the actions of their employes 
and dependents, politically, until such control imperils society and 
the liberty of the citizen. We demand the most stringent laws for 
their suppression and the most severe punishment of their pro- 
moters and maintainers and the energetic enforcement of such 
laws by the courts. 

We believe the Monroe Doctrine to be sound in principle and a 
wise National policy, and we demand a firm adherence thereto. 
We condemn those acts of the Administration inconsistent with it, 
and which have tended to make us parties to the interests, and to 
involve us in the controversies of European nations, and especially 
the recognition by pending treaty of the right of England to be 
considered in the construction of an interoceanic canal. 

We are in favor of the speedy construction of the Nicaragua 
Canal, to be built, owned and defended by the government of the 
United States. 

We observe with anxiety, and regard with disapproval, the in- 
creasing ownership of American lands by aliens ; and their grow- 
ing control over our internal transportation, natural resources and 
public utilities. We demand legislation to protect our public do- 
main, our natural resources, our franchises and our internal com- 
merce ; and to keep them free from, and to maintain their inde- 
pendence of, all foreign monopolies, institutions and influences ; 
and we declare our opposition to the leasing of the public lands of 
the United States, whereby corporations and syndicates shall be 
able to secure control thereof, and thus monopolize the public do- 
main, the heritage of the people. 

We approve of the principle of direct legislation, and favor the 
application of the same to nominations. 

In view of their great sacrifices made, and patriotic services ren- 
dered, we are in favor of liberal pensions to deserving soldiers and 
sailors, their widows, orphans and other dependents. We believe 
that enlistment and service should be accepted as conclusive proof 
that the soldier was free from disease and disability at the time 
of his enlistment. We condemn the present administration of the 
pension laws. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 67 

We tender to the patriotic people of the South African republics 
our sympathy, and express our admiration for them in their heroic 
struggle to preserve their political freedom and maintain their 
national existence. We declare the destruction of these republics 
and the subjugation of their people to be a crime against civiliza- 
tion. We believe this sympathy should have been voiced by the 
American Congress, as was done in the case of the French, Greeks, 
Hungarians, Poles, Armenians and the Cubans, and as the tradi- 
tions of this country would have dictated. 

We declare the Porto Rican tariff law to be not only a serious 
but a dangerous departure from the principles of our form of gov- 
ernment. 

We believe in the republican form of government ; and we are 
opposed to monarchy, and to the whole theory of imperialistic 
control. We believe in self-government, a government by the con- 
sent of the governed ; and are unalterably opposed to a government 
based upon force. It is incontrovertible that the inhabitants of the 
Philippine archipelago cannot be made citizens of the United 
States without endangering our civilization. We are therefore in 
favor of applying to the Philippines the principle we are solemnly 
and publicly pledged to observe in the case of Cuba. 

We demand that our Nation's promise to Cuba shall be fulfilled 
in every particular. 

There being no longer any necessity for collecting war taxes, we 
demand relief from the taxes levied to carry on the war with Spain. 

We favor the immediate admission into the Union of States of 
the Territories of Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma. 

We believe the National Government should lend encourage- 
ment and assistance toward the reclamation of the arid lands of 
the United States ; and to that end, we are in favor of a compre- 
hensive survey thereof, and an immediate ascertainment of the 
water supply available for such reclamation, and we believe it to 
be the duty of the general Government to provide for the con- 
struction of storage reservoirs and irrigation works so that the 
water supply of the arid region may be utilized to the greatest pos- 
sible extent in the interest of the people, while preserving all 
rights of the States. 

Transportation is a public necessity, and the means and methods 
of it are matters of public concern. Transportation companies ex- 
ercise an unwarranted power over industries, business and com- 
merce, and should be made to serve the public interests without 
making unreasonable charges or unjust discriminations. 

We observe with satisfaction the" growing sentiment among the 
people in favor of the public ownership and operation of public 
utilities, 



68 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

We are in favor of expanding our commerce in the interest of 
American labor and for the benefit of all our people by every 
honest and peaceful means. 

We are opposed to the importation of Asiatic laborers in compe- 
tition with American labor ; and favor a more rigid enforcement 
of the laws relating thereto. 

Our creed and our history justify the nations of the earth in 
expecting that, wherever the American flag is unfurled in author- 
ity, there human liberty and political freedom shall be found. We 
protest against the adoption of any policy that will change, in the 
thought of the world, the meaning of our flag. We insist that it 
shall never float over any ship or wave at the head of any column 
directed against the political independence of any people of any 
race or in any clime. The Silver Republican party of the United 
States, in the foregoing principles, seeks to perpetuate the spirit, 
and to adhere to the teachings of Abraham Lincoln. 

~^0n July 18 a number of Anti-Imperialists and Gold Demo- 
crats met at New York and adopted a declaration to be submitted 
to the national committee of the organization which nominated 
Palmer and Buckner in 1896. Inasmuch as it was a select 
gathering, and as it did not accomplish the object aimed at, 
the declaration is not given in full. But as, on the other hand, 
the number of those who held the sentiments expressed in the 
declaration was undoubtedly larger than that of one or more 
of the parties which put a ticket in the field, a summary of it 
deserves a place in the history of the canvass. 

We are met [they declared] to devise means to place in nomin- 
ation a third presidential ticket. We take this course because we 
are at present faced with the necessity of choosing between two 
candidates for neither of whom can we conscientiously vote. 

The declaration then proceeds to characterize Mr. McKin- 
ley, Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Bryan in most uncomplimentary 
terms, which it is not necessary to reproduce, and it announced 
the purposes of those who adopted it as follows : — 

First, a return to the political doctrines of the Declaration of 
Independence and the Constitution. 

Second, the recognition that not only Cuba and the Philippines, 
but Porto Rico and Hawaii are entitled to independence. 

Third, genuine monetary reform. 

Fourth, civil service reform. 

Fifth, the abolition of special privilege, whether of tariff or any 
other origin. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 69 

Some of the gentlemen preseift at this meeting attended the 
meeting of the national committee of the " National Demo- 
cratic " party, the name adopted by the Gold Democrats of 
1896, who met at Indianapolis on July 25. But after full 
consideration the committee adopted the following resolutions 
which, as will be seen, made no reference to the anti-imperial 
issue : 

Resolved. That in the opinion of this committee the nomination 
of candidates by the National Democratic party for the offices of 
President and Vice-President is unwise and inexpedient. 

Second — That we reaffirm the Indianapolis platform of 1896. 

Third — We recommend the State Committees in their respect- 
ive States to preserve their organizations and take such steps as in 
their opinion may best subserve the principles of our party, espec- 
ially in the maintenance of a sound currency, the right of private 
contract, the independence of the judiciary, and the authority of 
the President to enforce Federal laws, a covert attack on which 
is made under the guise of the denunciation of government by 
injunction. 

We urge the voters not to be deceived by the plea that the money 
question has been finally settled. The specific reiteration of the 
demand for the free coinage of silver at the ratio of 16 to 1 by the 
Kansas City Convention, and the history known of all men in con- 
nection therewith, emphasize the danger of this demand. We in- 
dorse the action of Congress in passing a bill embodying the gold 
standard as a step in the right direction. We feel it would be dan- 
gerous to elevate to executive power any one hostile to the main' 
tenance and enforcement of this law. 

The Anti-Imperialist League held a convention at Indian- 
apolis on August 16, and accepted the nomination of Mr. 
Bryan, and adopted the following platform: — 

This Liberty Congress of Anti-Imperialists recognizes a great 
National crisis, which menaces the Republic, upon whose future 
depends in such large measure the hope of freedom throughout 
the world. For the first time in our country's history the President 
has undertaken to subjugate a foreign people and to rule them by 
despotic power. He has thrown the protection of the flag over slav- 
ery and polygamy in the Sulu Islands. He has arrogated to him- 
self the power to impose upon the inhabitants of the Philippines 
government without their consent and taxation without represent- 
ation. He is waging war upon them for asserting the very principles 
for the maintenance of which our forefathers pledged their lives, 
their fortunes, and their sacred honor. He claims for himself and 



70 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Congress authority to govern the territories of the United States 
without constitutional restraint. 

We believe in the Declaration of Independence. Its truths, not 
less self-evident to-day than when first announced by our fa- 
thers, are of universal application and cannot be abandoned while 
government by the people endures. 

We believe in the Constitution of the United States. It gives 
the President and Congress certain limited powers and secures to 
every man within the jurisdiction of our Government certain es- 
sential rights. We deny that either the President or Congress can 
govern any person outside the Constitution. 

We are absolutely opposed to the policy of President McKinley, 
which proposes to govern millions of men without their consent, 
which in Porto Rico establishes taxation without representation, 
and government by the arbitrary will of a legislature unfettered 
by constitutional restraint, and in the Philippines prosecutes a 
war of conquest and demands unconditional surrender from a 
people who are of right free and independent. The struggle of 
men for freedom has ever been a struggle for constitutional lib- 
erty. There is no liberty if the citizen has no right which the Leg- 
islature may not invade, if he may be taxed by the Legislature in 
which he is not represented, or if he is not protected by funda- 
mental law against the arbitrary action of executive power. The 
policy of the President offers the inhabitants of Porto Rico, Hawaii, 
and the Philippines no hope of independence, no prospect of Amer- 
ican citizenship, no constitutional protection, no representation in 
the Congress which taxes them. This is the government of men 
by arbitrary power without their consent. This is imperialism. 
There is no room under the free flag of America for subjects. The 
President and Congress, who derive all their powers from the 
Constitution, can govern no man without regard to its limitations. 

We believe the greatest safeguard of liberty is a free press, 
and we demand that the censorship in the Philippines, which 
keeps from the American people the knowledge of what is done in 
their name, be abolished. We are entitled to know the truth, and 
we insist that the powers which the President holds in trust for us 
shall be not used to suppress it. 

Because we thus believe, we oppose the reelection of Mr. McKin- 
ley. The supreme purpose of the people in this momentous cam- 
paign should be to stamp with their final disapproval his attempt 
to grasp imperial power. A self-governing people can have no 
more imperative duty than to drive from public life a Chief Mag- 
istrate who, whether in weakness or of wicked purpose, has used 
his temporary authority to subvert the character of their govern- 
ment and to destroy their National ideals. 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 71 

We, therefore, in the belief that it is essential at this crisis for 
the American people again to declare their faith in the universal 
application of the Declaration of Independence and to reassert 
their will that their servants shall not have or exercise any powers 
whatever other than those conferred by the Constitution, earnestly 
make the following recommendations to our countrymen : 

First, that, without regard to their views on minor questions of 
domestic policy, they withhold their votes from Mr. McKinley, in 
order to stamp with their disapproval what he has done. 

Second, that they vote for those candidates for Congress in their 
respective districts who will oppose the policy of imperialism. 

Third, while we welcome any other method of opposing the re- 
election of Mr. McKinley, we advise direct support of Mr. Bryan 
as the most effective means of crushing imperialism. 

We are convinced of Mr. Bryan's sincerity and of his earnest 
purpose to secure to the Filipinos their independence. His posi- 
tion and the declarations contained in the platform of his party 
on the vital issue of the campaign meet our unqualified approval. 
We recommend that the Executive committees of the American 
Anti-Imperialist League and its allied leagues continue and extend 
their organizations, preserving the independence of the movement ; 
and that they take the most active part possible in the pending 
political campaign. 

Until now the policy which has turned the Filipinos from warm 
friends to bitter enemies, which has slaughtered thousands of them 
and laid waste their country, has been the policy of the President. 
After the next election it becomes the policy of every man who 
votes to reelect him, and who thus becomes with him responsible 
for every drop of blood thereafter shed. 

The following resolution, proposed from the floor, was added 
to the platform as reported : 

Resolved, That in declaring that the principles of the Declara- 
tion of Independence apply to all men, this Congress means to 
include the negro race in America as well as the Filipinos. We 
deprecate all efforts, whether in the South or in the North, to de- 
prive the negro of his rights as a citizen under the Declaration of 
Independence and the Constitution of the United States. 

Still another ticket was nominated by about one hundred 
independent citizens, who claimed no delegated authority, at a 
meeting in New York, on September 5. This action seems to 
have been the outcome of the refusal of the " National Demo- 
cratic " party, by its national committee, to nominate a ticket 
in response to the demand of the meeting in New York — 



72 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

already noticed — of July 18. Senator Donelson Caffery, of 
Louisiana, was .placed in nomination for the presidency, and 
Archibald M. Howe, of Massachusetts, for the vice-presidency. 
Both of these gentlemen declined the nomination later in the 
month, and no further action was taken. The following decla- 
ration of principles was made : — 

We, citizens of the United States of America, assembled for 
the purpose of defending the wise and conservative principles 
which underlie our Government, thus declare our aims and pur- 
poses: 

We find our country threatened with alternative perils. On the 
one hand is a public opinion misled by organized forces of com- 
mercialism that have perverted a war intended by the people to be 
a war of humanity into a war of conquest. On the other is a pub- 
lic opinion swayed by demagogic appeals to factional and class 
passions, the most fatal of diseases to a republic. We believe that 
either of these influences, if unchecked, would ultimately compass 
the downfall of our country, but we also believe that neither rep- 
resents the sober conviction of our countrymen. Convinced that 
the extension of the jurisdiction of the United States for the pur- 
pose of holding foreign people as colonial dependents is an inno- 
vation dangerous to our liberties and repugnant to the principles 
upon which our Government is founded, we pledge our earnest 
efforts through all constitutional means, 

First — To procure the renunciation of all imperial or colonial 
pretensions with regard to foreign countries claimed to have been 
acquired through or in consequence of naval or military operations 
of the last two years. 

Second — We further pledge our efforts to secure a single gold 
standard and a sound banking system. 

Third — To secure a public service based on merit only. 

Fourth — To secure the abolition of all corrupting special priv- 
ileges, whether under the guise of subsidies, bounties, undeserved 
pensions, or trust-breeding tariffs. 



r 



The canvass of the year 1900 was characterized by no un- 
usual excitement. The number of candidates for the two chief 
offices was unprecedentedly large, but there was nothing in the 
situation to divert from the candidates of the two historic part- 
ies to any one of the minor candidacies any considerable body 
of citizens. The only large group of men, Democrats and Re- 
publicans, who could not conscientiously support either Mc- 
Kinley or Bryan — those who were unalterably opposed to the 
Philippine policy and equally opposed to free silver — found 



« IMPERIALISM/' THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 73 

nothing to attract them in the Prohibition principles or in the 
several socialistic parties. They reluctantly voted for that one 
of the candidates whose principles were less repugnant to their 
own, or refrained from voting altogether. 

It is probable that several important events, or series of 
events, wholly unconnected with American politics, by divert- 
ing public attention, rendered the interest in the canvass much 
less acute than it otherwise would have been. Of these may be 
mentioned the Boxer uprising in China, the assassination of 
King Humbert of Italy, the terrible catastrophe at Galveston, 
and the closing campaigns of the Boer War. The continuance of 
the war with the Filipino insurgents and the protracted strikes 
in the anthracite coal region may have had some unascertained 
effect upon the political sentiments of the people, and upon the 
vote in November ; but that effect was not only unascertained 
but un perceived. 

Aside from the ordinary campaigning by a host of " spell- 
binders " of both parties, the leading feature of the canvass 
was the activity of Mr. Bryan on the part of the Democrats, 
and of Mr. Roosevelt in behalf of the Republicans. Mr. 
Roosevelt was credited with having made six hundred and 
seventy-three speeches in twenty-four States. Mr. Bryan's 
statistics cannot be given, but there were few days when no 
audiences gathered to hear him, and his travels must have 
been quite as extensive as those of Mr. Roosevelt. 

Although anti-imperialism was announced by the Demo- 
cratic convention to be the paramount issue of the canvass, and 
although the declaration was made at the expressed wish of 
Mr. Bryan, it seems not a prejudiced view of the situation to 
assert that he found the principle less popular than he ex- 
pected. Not that he abated in the slightest degree the energy 
of his opposition to the colonial policy, or that he failed at any 
time to denounce those who preferred — as he put it — an 
empire to a republic. But he devoted the larger part of most 
of his speeches on the stump to the question of the trusts, and 
to the evils to which organized labor was subject. The silver 
question, on which he usually touched, briefly but emphatic- 
ally, also seemed not greatly to interest his hearers. But on 
the other hand it was the leading topic of Republican orators, 
and the most effective argument they could adduce was the 
danger that the gold standard would be endangered should Mr. 
Bryan be successful. The event proved that in the extreme and 



74 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

the middle West the sentiment in favor of silver free coinage 
was far less strong than it was four years before ; and thou- 
sands of Republicans returned to their allegiance. On the other 
hand, in the East where such free silver sentiment existed it was 
to a large degree artificial, and chiefly a product of the desire 
for party regularity ; the " paramount " and other issues of the 
canvass were more emphasized, and there the Democratic vote 
increased. 

The election took place on November 6. The result is shown 
in the table on the opposite page. 

McKinley lost the votes of Kentucky which he had received 
in 1896, but he gained those of Kansas, Nebraska, South 
Dakota, Utah and Wyoming which were carried by Bryan four 
years before. 

The total popular vote was 13,973,071, which was an in- 
crease of 36,020 over the vote of 1896. It was to be followed 
in 1904 by an actual decrease. The causes of the remarkable 
reversal of a tendency which had always previously been ob- 
served, are discussed in a later chapter. 

The resolution of Congress preliminary to the count of the 
electoral votes was more carefully considered and phrased than 
were similar resolutions in the past. Indeed, in the form in 
which it was first passed by the Senate it followed closely the 
language of the resolution adopted by both Houses in 1896. But 
it was observed by some members of the House of Represent- 
atives that it did not use the phraseology of the law, and ac- 
cordingly it was modified. The difference between the two 
forms is slight and may seem unimportant at a casual reading. 
As passed by the Senate, after providing for a joint meeting 
on the 13th of February, for the appointment of tellers on the 
part of the two Houses, and for the making of lists of the re- 
sult by these tellers, the Senate resolution continued : — 

The result shall be delivered to the President of the Senate, who 
shall announce the state of the vote and the persons elected, to 
the two Houses assembled as aforesaid, which shall be deemed a 
declaration of the persons elected President and Vice-President of 
the United States. 

In its modified form there was substituted, for the forego- 
ing, these words : — 

The result of the same shall be delivered to the President of 
the Senate, who shall thereupon announce the state of the vote, 



"IMPERIALISM" THE "PARAMOUNT" ISSUE 75 









Popular Vote 








Electo- 
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Alabama . . 


55512 


97131 


2762 


_ 


. 


4178 






11 


Arkansas . . 


44800 


81142 


584 


27 


- 


972 


341 


— 


- 


8 


California . . 


164755 . 


124985 


5087 


7572 


- 


— 


- 


- 


9 


— 


Colorado . . 


93072 


122733 


3790 


714 


684 


389 


_ 


_ 


_ 


4 


Connecticut . 


102572 


74014 


1617 


1029 


908 


_ 


_ 


_ 


6 


_ 


Delaware . . 


22535 


18863 


546 


57 


- 


- 


_ 


_ 


3 


- 


Florida . . . 


7420 


28007 


2234 


601 


- 


1070 


_ 


_ 


_ 


4 


Georgia . . . 


35056 


81700 


1396 


- 


- 


4584 


- 


- 


- 


13 


Idaho . . . 


27193 


29414 


857 


- 


- 


232 


_ 


_ 


- 


3 


Illinois . o . 


597985 


503061 


17626 


9687 


1373 


1141 


572 


352 


24 


_ 


Indiana . . . 


336063 


309584 


13718 


2374 


663 


1438 


254 


.. 


15 


_ 


Iowa .... 


307808 


209265 


9502 


2742 


259 


613 


_ 


707 


13 


_ 


Kansas . . . 


185955 


162001 


3605 


1605 


- 


_ 


_ 


_ 


10 


_ 


Kentucky . . 


226801 


234899 


2814 


770 


299 


2017 


- 


_ 


- 


13 


Louisiana . . 


14233 


53671 


— 


- 


- 


— 


- 


- 


- 


8 


Maine . , . 


65412 


36822 


2585 


878 


- 


- 


_ 


_ 


6 


_ 


Maryland . . 


136185 


122238 


4574 


904 


388 


- 


147 


_ 


8 


_ 


Massachusetts. 


239147 


157016 


6208 


9716 


2610 


- 


- 


_ 


15 


_ 


Michigan . . 


316269 


211685 


11859 


2820 


903 


837 


_ 


_ 


14 


- 


Minnesota . . 


190461 


112901 


8555 


3065 


1329 


— 


- 


- 


9 


- 


Mississippi . . 


5753 


51706 


- 


- 


- 


1644 


_ 


— 


- 


9 


Missouri. . . 


314092 


351922 


5965 


6139 


1294 


4244 


- 


- 


- 


17 


Montana. . . 


25373 


37145 


298 


708 


169 


- 


_ 


_ 


_ 


3 


Nebraska . . 


121835 


114013 


3655 


823 


- 


1104 


_ 


_ 


8 


- 


Nevada . . . 


3849 


6347 


- 


- 


- 


- 


- 


- 


- 


3 


New Hampshire 


54799 


35489 


1279 


790 


- 


- 


_ 


_ 


4 


- 


New Jersey . 


221754 


164879 


7190 


4611 


2081 


691 


_ 


_ 


10 




New York . . 


822013 


678462 


22077 


12869 


12621 


- 


_ 


_ 


36 


_ 


North Carolina 


132997 


157733 


1006 


- 


— 


830 


_ 


- 


- 


11 


North Dakota. 


35898 


20531 


731 


520 


- 


111 


_ 


- 


3 


- 


Ohio .... 


543918 


474882 


10203 


4847 


1588 


251 


4284 


- 


23 


— 


Oregon . . . 


46526 


33385 


2536 


1494 


- 


275 


- 


- 


4 


- 


Pennsylvania . 


712665 


424232 


27908 


4831 


2936 


638 


- 


- 


32 


- 


Rhode Island . 


33784 


19812 


1529 


- 


1423 


- 


- 


- 


4 


- 


South Carolina 


3579 


47233 


— 


- 


- 


- 


- 


- 


— 


9 


South Dakota . 


54530 


39544 


1542 


169 


_ 


339 


_ 


_ 


4 


_ 


Tennessee . . 


123180 


145356 


3860 


413 


- 


1322 


_ 


_ 


- 


12 


Texas . . . 


130641 


267432 


,2644 


1846 


162 


20981 


_ 


_ 


- 


15 


Utah. . . . 


47139 


45006 


209 


720 


106 


_ 


- 


- 


3 


- 


Vermont . . 


42569 


12849 


383 


39 


- 


367 


_ 


_ 


4 


- 


Virginia . . 


115865 


146080 


2150 


145 


167 


63 


- 


_ 


- 


12 


Washington . 


57456 


44833 


2363 


2066 


866 


- 


— 


_ 


4 


- 


West Virginia. 


119829 


98807 


1692 


219 


- 


268 


- 


_ 


6 


- 


Wisconsin . . 


265760 


159163 


10027 


7048 


503 


_ 


- 


_ 


12 


— 


Wyoming . . 


14482 


10164 


- 


- 


- 


- 




- 


3 


- 


Totals . . 


7219525 


6358737 


209157 


94864 


33432 


50599 


5698 


1059 


292 


155 



which announcement shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the 
persons, if any, elected President and Vice-President of the United 
States. 



76 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

In the one case, it will be seen, the President of the Sen- 
ate was to declare certain persons elected. It was thought ad- 
visable, at a time when no question was to arise as to the re- 
sult, to establish the precedent that the President of the Sen- 
ate was not to declare any person elected. The procedure thus 
enjoined was followed strictly at the count of the vote on 
February 13, 1901, which passed off without an incident out- 
side of the routine. 

The inauguration took place on March 4, 1901, with the 
customary ceremony. But numerous organizations and a vast 
throng of private citizens made the occasion memorable and 
impressive. In the procession that accompanied Mr. McKinley 
from the White House to the Capitol and escorted him back 
to the official residence were a large number of veterans of the 
Civil War; the " Rough Riders," — Mr. Roosevelt's regiment 
during the Spanish War ; — a battalion of Porto Rican sol- 
diers, representing the new citizens of the United States; and 
the full corps of West Point cadets and Annapolis midship- 
men. In the parade after the inauguration were fifteen gov- 
ernors of States, mounted. The number of private citizens who 
were attracted to Washington by simple curiosity or by a de- 
sire to testify their regard for the President and Vice-President 
elect, was unprecedented. The parade after the inauguration 
was witnessed by tens of thousands who lined Pennsylvania 
avenue, many deep, all the way from the Capitol to the White 
House. 

The scene in the Senate Chamber when Mr. Roosevelt took 
the oath as Vice-President was brilliant in the extreme. The 
Supreme Court, the members of the Cabinet, and the diplo- 
matic corps headed by Lord Pauncefote, in their court cos- 
tumes, added dignity to the occasion ; and the ladies of the 
Chinese and Japanese legations, in their gorgeous native at- 
tire, gave a quaint touch of color to the diplomatic gallery. 

After the induction into office of the Vice-President the 
official and invited witnesses of the ceremony of administering 
the oath to the President elect proceeded to the east front of 
the Senate wing of the Capitol. Mr. McKinley took the oath, 
which was administered by Chief Justice Fuller, and then 
delivered his inaugural address. Unfortunately a light rain 
was falling at the time, and the President omitted, in the 
reading, a part of his address. 



II 

ROOSEVELT'S ELECTION FOR A " SECOND TERM » 

Mr. McKinley began his second term under the happiest 
auspices. The momentous crisis through which the country- 
had passed since the beginning of the war with Spain left him 
secure in the support of a large majority of the people. If the 
voters had not, in the preceding November, expressed their 
approval of the policy of expansion which imposed upon the 
government the care and control of distant possessions and made 
it a world power, they had certainly not condemned that policy. 
Congress had passed an act — the act which of all the President 
most ardently desired — reestablishing the system of a protect- 
ive tariff according to the Republican standard, and the people 
had not rejected the party which made the tariff, as they had 
done in 1884, 1890, and 1896, —the last three tariffs en- 
acted. The country was so prosperous under the act, — in 
consequence of it or in spite of it, as one viewed it from the 
protective or the free-trade point of view, — that there was no 
imminent danger of a fresh tariff campaign. Moreover, the 
prosperity of the country served also to reconcile all but the 
most irreconcilable to the act establishing the gold standard 
of money, and the consequent elimination of the silver ques- 
tion from politics, of which it had been a disturbing element 
for more than twenty years. 

Although such was the fortunate situation in home affairs 
the outlook was, if not reassuring, by no means desperate, so 
far as the relations of the government to its new dependencies 
and to certain foreign powers were concerned. The Philippine 
revolt was not suppressed, but the clouds in that archipelago 
began to break before the first month of the new term expired ; 
for Aguinaldo was captured by a stratagem in March, and there- 
after the violent opposition to American rule was sporadic 
and futile. Congress had passed an act throwing the entire 
control and government of the islands upon the President, and 
arrangements had already been made to transfer the govern- 
ment from military to civil authority, a change which took place, 



78 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

according to the plans of Governor Taft, on the fourth of July. 
The possession of distant and insular dependencies raised a 
group of new and perplexing questions as to the standing of 
the people inhabiting Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands, 
and as to their relation to and their rights under the Constitu- 
tion and the laws of the United States. The questions were 
carried promptly to the Supreme Court for decision. They 
reached that tribunal in several distinct cases, each of which 
was to be determined by a ruling on a single point. It resulted 
that no general opinion, covering the whole subject, was pos- 
sible. The twp cases of chief importance were decided on the same 
day, May 27, each by a divided court, five justices against four. 
But the majority, so far as the personnel of the justices com- 
prising it was concerned, was not the same in the two cases, and 
it was therefore easy for the opponents of what they called im- 
perialism, to maintain that the court overruled itself in the two 
judgments. Whether they were inconsistent with each other or 
not, the effect they produced was to sanction all that Congress 
had done and all that it proposed to do with reference to the 
government of the outlying territory and the people inhabiting 
it. The court decided that the territory acquired as the result of 
the war was a part of the United States, and not foreign ; and 
that the people were not aliens. But on the other hand it de- 
cided that, until Congress should so decree, that territory was 
not a part of the United States in such a sense that the require- 
ment of the Constitution that the taxes imposed by Congress 
" shall be uniform throughout the United States" applied to 
them. Consistency might be asserted for the two decisions by 
advancing the theory that the new territory was a part of the 
United States as a whole ; but that the clause just quoted ap- 
plied only to such part of the country as was organized into 
States. But the Court did not maintain, nor did it disclaim, 
consistency. It simply held that Congress possessed authority 
to pass any laws it might deem necessary for the government 
of the newly acquired territory. 

The relations of the United States to other powers were ab- 
solutely peaceful. But there was one question pending with 
Great Britain that required delicate handling. The experience 
of the country during the Spanish War gave a fresh and strong 
impetus to the public sentiment favorable to the construction 
of a canal to unite the Atlantic and the Pacific. It was urged 
with great force that the country must never again be forced, 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 79 

in time of war, to assemble its naval fleets by steaming around 
South America. The chief obstacle to an enterprise which 
encountered scarcely any opposition at home, was the so-called 
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty with Great Britain. Under that treaty, 
which was made in 1850, and which, as has been said of it, 
" has given rise to more questions than it contains articles,'' 
the United States was hampered by obligations which success- 
ive Secretaries of State during a half-century had vainly en- 
deavored to remove by peaceful negotiation. In its relation to 
an Isthmian Canal it made Great Britain and the United States 
partners in the protection and control of such a canal, should 
a waterway between the oceans be constructed. The treaty was 
held by American diplomatists to be inconsistent with the un- 
dertaking of the United States, in its treaty with Colombia, 
to guarantee the integrity of Colombian territory. Mr. Blaine, 
when Secretary of State, argued that Great Britain had abro- 
gated the treaty by certain of its acts, but the British Foreign 
Secretary did not admit the validity of his argument, and it 
was never the purpose of any President to act upon the as- 
sumption that the treaty was abrogated, unless Great Britain 
conceded the point. As public opinion in the United States 
after the Spanish War demanded the construction of an inter- 
oceanic canal as a government work, it became more than ever 
important that the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty should be abrogated, 
or at all events modified. For it was clearly against public 
policy to incur the enormous expense of the undertaking unless, 
in the end, it would be under the sole control of the govern- 
ment which had borne the entire burden of cost. 

On February 5, 1900, Secretary of State John Hay con- 
cluded a treaty with Lord Pauncefote as British plenipotentiary, 
modifying in important respects the old treaty of 1850. When 
the treaty was submitted to the Senate for ratification that 
body made several amendments to the instrument, one of which 
declared that the new agreement superseded the treaty of 1850. 
Great Britain rejected the treaty as amended, assigning several 
reasons for its action. But it was generally understood that it 
attached importance to the change just mentioned, and to that 
only. The Foreign Secretary remarked that it was not custom- 
ary for one party to a treaty to declare it superseded when the 
subject of supersession had not been discussed. A new treaty 
was made by Mr. Hay and Lord Pauncefote, November 18, 
1901, which was sent to the Senate at the beginning of the 



80 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

December session, and was ratified on December 16, by a vote 
of 72 to 6. By that treaty the Clayton-Bulwer agreement was 
formally superseded, the right of the United States to construct, 
own, operate, and control a canal was conceded, and the clauses 
relative to the neutralization of the Suez Canal were incorporated 
in the agreement, save that the clause forbidding a fortification 
of the canal was omitted. 

The war with Spain was undertaken with the express pur- 
pose to liberate Cuba, and with a distinct pledge on the part of 
Congress not to acquire it as a territory of the United States, 
but to leave the government to the people of the island. Never- 
theless Cuba was held by United States troops and was gov- 
erned temporarily by a general of its army. Notwithstanding 
the pledge that was given at the outset, there was clearly a 
moral obligation resting upon the United States to see that the 
government of the new republic should be truly representative 
of the people, that its institutions should be founded upon 
justice and liberty, and that it should be strong enough, as 
well as disposed, to maintain justice, liberty and order. It was 
also the right of the United States, having established the in-^ 
dependence of Cuba, to safeguard its own interests. President 
McKinley had ordered an election of delegates to frame a con- 
stitution for Cuba, on July 25, 1900, and the convention met 
on November 5. It was composed of the most radical and ir- 
responsible elements of the population, and when, after child- 
ish dallying with the problem before it, the convention began 
to consider the details of a constitution the general features of 
which had been agreed upon, it appeared that there was no 
purpose on the part of the convention to express obligation, 
gratitude, or even friendliness to the United States. There 
was not in the preliminary draft a word of recognition of the 
service this country had rendered in establishing independence, 
nor of its interest in the future of the island. 

The evident intention of the delegates to obtain the sanc- 
tion of Congress to a constitution which would enable the new 
government to become — like many of the Spanish-American 
republics — a lawless member of the family of nations, a scene 
of frequent revolutions, and absolved from indebtedness of any 
sort to the United States, caused much anxiety at Washing- 
ton. Early in February, 1901, there were several conferences 
among senators who were members of the Committee on Cuban 
Relations ; and the result was the drafting of an amendment 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 81 

to be proposed to the pending Army Appropriation Bill. 
There were consultations with the President and Secretary 
Root, but the original draft was made by Senator Orville H. 
Piatt, of Connecticut, and the final draft was made by Senators 
Piatt and Spooner. The Democratic senators on the Committee, 
although opposed to the amendment, patriotically agreed not 
to filibuster against it, nor to offer factious opposition to it. 
Mr. Piatt offered the amendment on February 25, when only 
one week of the session and of the Congress remained. It was 
adopted on the 27th, by a strict party vote, yeas 43, nays 20, 
was agreed to by the House of Representatives, and became a 
law on March 2. The famous " Piatt Amendment " consisted 
of a preamble and eight clauses. The preamble repeated the 
declaration of the intention of the government as set forth in 
the "Teller Amendment" to " leave the government and con- 
trol of the island of Cuba to its people," but added that that 
action was to be taken " so soon as a government shall have 
been established in said island under a constitution which, 
either as a part thereof or in an ordinance appended thereto, 
shall define the future relations of the United States with Cuba 
substantially as follows " : — 

The first three of the following clauses are all that need be 
quoted in full. 

I. That the government of Cuba shall never enter into any 
treaty or other compact with any foreign power or powers which 
will impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba, nor in 
any manner authorize or permit any foreign power or powers to 
obtain by colonization or for military or naval purposes or other- 
wise lodgment in or control over any portion of the island. 

II. That said government shall not assume or contract any pub- 
lic debt, to pay the interest upon which, and to make reasonable 
sinking fund provision for the ultimate discharge of which, the 
ordinary revenues of the island, after defraying the current ex- 
penses of government, shall be inadequate. 

III. That the government of Cuba consents that the United 
States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of 
Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate 
for the protection of life, property and individual liberty, and for 
discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the 
treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and un- 
dertaken by the government of Cuba. 

The fourth clause ratified and validated all the acts of the 
United States during the military occupation of the island. 



82 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

By the fifth the government was to bind itself to continue the 
sanitation work already performed. The sixth omitted the 
Isle of Pines, for the time being, from the boundaries of Cuba, 
The seventh provided for the sale or lease to the United States 
of land for coaling or naval stations. The eighth embodied an 
engagement to make a permanent treaty with the United 
States in accordance with the foregoing provisions. 

Great reluctance to accept the conditions on which the gov- 
ernment might be established was manifested by the conven- 
tion. It was once voted not to incorporate the Piatt amend- 
ment in the constitution, but the futility of the entire proceedings 
should the convention persist in its refusal finally became so 
apparent that the amendment was appended to the constitu- 
tion. An election was held at the end of the year, and the 
government of the island was turned over to the people on 
the 4th of July, 1902. In the interval there was not a little 
angry discussion of the matter by radical Cubans. The motives 
of the United States in imposing conditions which were de- 
clared to be humiliating, were attacked. There was a suspicion 
of sinister intentions. Yet the terms were not harsh ; they 
were calculated to secure the independence of the island, and not 
to impair it; and in particular that clause which authorized in- 
tervention by the United States to secure the island from a suc- 
cession of revolutionary outbreaks, was soon justified by events 
in Cuba. More than once before the inauguration of Seiior Palma 
as the first president suspicion was entertained both in Cuba 
and by opposition journals in the United States that the ad- 
ministration had a secret purpose to bring about the annexation 
of the island. But events showed that there was no such pur- 
pose, and the pledge of the government at the time war with 
Spain was declared, was strictly and honorably performed. 

There were several other matters in the foreign relations 
that belong in point of time to the closing months of President 
McKinley's first, and the beginning of his second term. They 
had, however, no bearing upon the political situation, and there- 
fore require a brief mention only. The Venezuela trouble, 
which caused much diplomatic correspondence later, was not 
yet at an acute stage. Negotiations were on foot, and indeed 
took the form of a treaty for the cession of the Danish West 
Indies to the United States ; but in the end King Christian 
and the Danish Parliament refused to sanction the cession. 
The government joined with other powers in demanding in- 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION' 7 83 

demnity from China on account of losses and expenses suf- 
fered by reason of the Boxer insurrection. The demands of the 
United States were moderate, and when it was found that the 
sum asked for and paid exceeded the actual loss, the excess 
was returned to China'. If it be added that the question of the 
fisheries on the coasts of Canada and Newfoundland engaged 
much of the attention of the government, it is a statement that 
would be true of some period in almost every President's term 
of office. 

It will be seen from the foregoing survey of the situation at 
home and abroad that the administration entered upon its du- 
ties under extremely favorable conditions. Save for the unsatis- 
factory outlook in the Philippines there was nothing to cause 
anxiety. Such foreign questions as were unsettled were fully 
under control. Politically the party in power was strong, and 
the several departments worked in harmony. The new House 
of Representatives, elected at the same time as the President, 
consisted of 198 Republicans, 153 Democrats, and 5 independ- 
ents. The Senate, as it met on the 4th of March, consisted of 
56 Republicans, 29 Democrats, and 5 independents. There 
were two vacancies in the Senate, and one in the House. 

On the 29th of April the President set out for a long tour, 
in the course of which he was to visit twenty-four States. He 
was to go by the southern route, by way of New Orleans to 
the Pacific Coast, and to return by the northern route, and the 
Yellowstone Park. But Mrs. McKinley, who accompanied him, 
was taken so seriously ill at San Francisco that the rest of the 
tour was abandoned, and the party returned East by the short- 
est line. 

There is reason to think that the President cherished a 
definite purpose to make his second term noteworthy by a great 
increase in the foreign trade of the country, and to reach that 
end by an important modification of the commercial policy. 
Such a purpose is hinted at in his inaugural message, and 
it reappears in more and more developed form in his later 
speeches. The passage in the inaugural address is brief but 
pregnant. 

Our diversified productions are increasing in such unprecedented 
volume as to admonish us of the necessity of still further enlarg- 
ing our foreign markets by broader commercial relations. For this 
purpose reciprocal trade arrangements with other nations should, 
in liberal spirit, be carefully cultivated and promoted. 



84 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

In his speech at Memphis, on the Western tour just men- 
tioned, he said, — 

It is your business as well as mine to see to it that an industrial 
policy shall be pursued in the United States that shall open up the 
widest markets in every part of the world for the products of 
American soil and American manufacture. We can now supply 
our own markets. . . . We must open new ones for our surplus. 

By far the fullest expression of what was in his mind is 
contained in the last speech he ever delivered. It is a singular 
fact that both parties to the nation-old controversy upon the 
question of protection and free trade, quote more or less fully 
from his utterance on that occasion — the one party maintain- 
ing that he had no intention beyond joining a policy of reci- 
procity to an unyielding policy of protection ; the other that 
he perceived that the policy of protection must be modified. 
Inasmuch as the controversy continues a decade after the words 
were spoken, the text of his remarks upon the subject should 
be given in full. The occasion of the speech was a visit to the 
Buffalo Pan-American Exhibition, on September 5, 1901. Af- 
ter speaking of the state of " unexampled prosperity " in all 
parts of the country and in every branch of industry, he pro- 
ceeded : — 

We have avast and intricate business built up through years of 
toil and struggle, in which every part of the country has its stake, 
which will not permit of either neglect or undue selfishness. No 
narrow, sordid policy will subserve it. The greatest skill and wis- 
dom on the part of the manufacturers and producers will be re- 
quired to hold and increase it. Our industrial enterprises which 
have grown to such great proportions affect the homes and occu- 
pations of the people and the welfare of the country. Our capacity 
to produce has developed so enormously and our products have so 
multiplied that the problem of more markets requires our urgent 
and immediate attention. Only a broad and enlightened policy 
will keep what we have. No other policy will get more. In these 
times of marvelous business energy and gain we ought to be looking 
to the future, strengthening the weak places in our industrial and 
commercial systems, that we may be ready for any storm or strain. 

By sensible trade arrangements which will not interrupt our home 
production, we shall extend the outlets for our increasing surplus. 
A system which provides a mutual exchange of commodities is 
manifestly essential to the continued and healthful growth of our 
export trade. We must not repose in fancied security that we can 
forever sell everything and buy little or nothing. If such a thing 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 85 

were possible it would not be best for us or for those with whom 
we deal. We should take from our customers such of their products 
as we can use without harm to our industries and labor. Recipro- 
city is the natural outgrowth of our wonderful industrial develop- 
ment under the domestic policy now firmly established. 

What we produce beyond our domestic consumption must have 
a vent abroad. The excess must be relieved through a foreign out- 
let, and we should sell everywhere we can and buy wherever the 
buying will enlarge our sales and productions, and thereby make 
a greater demand for home labor. 

The period of exclusiveness is past. The expansion of our trade 
and commerce is the pressing problem. Commercial wars are un- 
profitable. A policy of good will and friendly trade relations will 
prevent reprisals. Reciprocity treaties are in harmony with the 
spirit of the times ; measures of retaliation are not. 

If perchance some of our tariffs are no longer needed for revenue 
or to encourage and protect our industries at home, why should 
they not be employed to extend and promote our markets abroad ? 
Then, too, we have inadequate steamship service. New lines of 
steamers have already been put in commission between the Pacific 
Coast ports of the United States and those on the western coast of 
Mexico and Central and South America. These should be followed 
up with direct steamship lines between the eastern coast of the 
United States and South American ports. One of the needs of the 
times is direct commercial lines from our vast fields of production 
to the fields of consumption that we have but barely touched. Next 
in advantage to having the thing to sell is to have the conveyance 
to carry it to the buyer. We must increase our merchant marine. 
We must have more ships. They must be under the American flag, 
built and manned and owned by Americans. These will not only 
be profitable in a commercial sense ; they will be messengers of 
peace and amity wherever they go. We must build the Isthmian 
Canal, which will unite the two oceans and give a straight line of 
water communication with the western coasts of Central and 
South America and Mexico. The construction of a Pacific cable 
cannot be longer postponed. 

On the day following the delivery of this speech, September 
6, the President was shot twice, while receiving his fellow 
citizens. At first strong hopes were entertained that he would 
recover, but his wounds were mortal, and he died on Septem- 
ber 14. His assassin was an anarchist of foreign extraction, 
who was executed for his crime during the following month. 

Vice-President Roosevelt was summoned to Buffalo when 
the President's condition was seen to be desperate, and when 



86 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

death removed him, Mr. Roosevelt immediately took the oath 
of office, by the advice of Mr. Root, the Secretary of War. In 
doing so he said, " It shall be my aim to continue absolutely 
unbroken the policy of President McKinley, which has given 
peace, prosperity, and honor to our beloved country." By pro- 
clamation he appointed the 19th of September, which was to 
be the day of the President's funeral, as " a day of mourning 
and prayer," and recommended to all the people that on that 
day they should assemble in their respective houses of worship 
and hold a memorial service for the murdered President. The 
third assassination of a President in office in a period of less 
than forty years excited universal grief and indignation. Of 
the three victims Mr. McKinley was the best beloved. The 
full appreciation of Lincoln's character came after his death. 
Garfield was greatly honored and respected, and his long fight 
against death brought him very near to the hearts of the 
American people. But McKinley's kindly and homely charac- 
ter rendered him an object of general affection. People of every 
party and of every religious persuasion observed the day of his 
funeral with devotional and memorial services in thousands of 
churches, and the mourning was deep and universal. 

Although Mr. Roosevelt's pledge was absolutely sincere, and 
although his severest critics have always admitted that he kept 
it, loyally, to the best of his ability, it was inevitable that the 
death of Mr. McKinley should make a vast change in the course 
of events. The two men were extraordinarily different in train- 
ing and experience as well as in temperament and tastes and 
tendencies. The mere difference in their respective estimates of 
the relative importance of governmental measures would have 
rendered it impossible that the administration of Theodore 
Roosevelt should be a continuation of the administration of 
William McKinley. The new President certainly exercised 
self-repression during the ensuing three years. Yet in that 
time he showed enough of the quality of his mind and of the 
direction his activity would naturally take, if he were under no 
such restraint as that which he imposed on himself when tak- 
ing the oath of office, to be free to act his natural self when 
he became the duly elected head of the nation. Quite early in 
the new administration there were indications of change not so 
much of policy as of method. The incident of the invitation to 
luncheon of the most eminent colored citizen of the time, Mr. 
Booker Washington, was an illustration. Undoubtedly Mr. 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 87 

McKinley held Mr. Washington in as much esteem and honor 
as did Mr. Koosevelt ; but it is extremely doubtful if he would 
have shown his esteem in a way which might and did draw 
down upon the President in the first month of his administra- 
tion the denunciation of southerners, who are sensitive in such 
matters. But on the other hand, the entire cabinet of Presi- 
dent McKinley was retained ; and although changes in two 
departments took place not long after Mr. Roosevelt's acces- 
sion, they were caused by voluntary retirement and not by po- 
litical or personal differences. 

The session of Congress which followed the accession of 
President Roosevelt was not particularly eventful. In his first 
message the President touched rather lightly upon the ques- 
tion which he was to make peculiarly his own during the en- 
suing seven years, that, namely, of the large corporations, pop- 
ularly known as " trusts." He thought such combinations of 
capital should be, not prohibited but supervised and controlled, 
and that there should be governmental inspection of the work- 
ing of great corporations engaged in interstate trade. Congress 
passed an act establishing a permanent Census bureau, but the 
bill providing for reciprocity with Cuba was defeated. This 
was regarded as a defeat of the President, who had urged the 
measure earnestly. 

Directly after the assassination of President McKinley there 
was a general advocacy in the press, and almost universal pop- 
ular support, of a movement to render less easy the commission 
of such crimes, and more severe the punishment of attempts to 
commit them. The means proposed to accomplish these ends 
were various. Many writers advocated the penalty of death 
for attempts at the life of the President or other high officers 
of the government. Numerous bills were introduced in Con- 
gress on the subject, but in the end no action was taken upon 
any of them. 

The most important act of the session was that providing 
for the construction of the Panama Canal. It had for a long 
time been a question between the Nicaragua and the Panama 
routes. A commission of engineers reported in favor of Nicar- 
agua, but it was hardly a secret that the chief reason for the 
decision was the vastly greater cost of the Panama route. It 
was evident that the French company would be unable to raise 
the funds necessary to finish the Panama Canal, but the com- 
pany demanded an excessively large sum for its franchise and 



88 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

for the work already done. The sum asked was $109,000,000. 
Many of those interested in the general question were never- 
theless strongly in favor of the Nicaragua route, not only as 
the cheaper but as the better location for the waterway. Chief 
among them was the venerable Senator Morgan, of Alabama, 
who had studied the subject with great care and thoroughness, 
was most enthusiastic in maintaining his thesis, and had made 
many long and able speeches in the Senate in favor of Nicar- 
agua. In December, 1901, it was rumored that the French 
Company was willing largely to reduce its price, and on Janu- 
ary 4, 1902, the directors voted to dispose of all the property 
of the company for forty million dollars. It had become evi- 
dent to them that the United States was resolved to build a 
canal, and should the line across Nicaragua be chosen, the dif- 
ficulty of raising money further to prosecute their own en- 
terprise would become an impossibility. Notwithstanding the 
offer to sell at a lower price, the House of Representatives, on 
January 9, 1903, rejected an amendment in favor of Panama, 
by a vote of yeas 102, nays 170, and passed the Nicaragua 
bill. But the Senate, to the distress of Senator Morgan, sub- 
stituted Panama, and the House concurred. 

It seemed at the time that this action assured the realiza- 
tion of the dream of centuries. But there was an unexpected 
obstacle. The Republic of Colombia across the territory of 
which the canal was to be constructed was believed to be 
friendly, in spite of the objections and hesitations which had 
characterized its attitude toward the French company when 
the question of renewing its franchise was under consideration. 
Without friction or dissent in any respect from the terms pro- 
posed, a treaty was concluded between the representatives of 
the two republics providing for the lease of a strip of territory 
across the isthmus six miles in width, for a term of one hun- 
dred years, with the right of renewal ; and the right was con- 
ceded to the United States to land troops to protect the canal 
in case Colombia should be unable to preserve order. In con- 
sideration of these concessions the United States was to pay 
Colombia a sum of ten million dollars outright, and an annual 
rental of a quarter of a million, to begin nine years after the 
ratification of the treaty. This agreement was made in Janu- 
ary, 1903, and was ratified by the Senate on May 17. To the 
great surprise of the people and the government of the United 
States, there were long delays of the consideration of the treaty 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 89 

by the Colombian Congress ; then there were rumors that there 
was strong opposition to it ; and ultimately the treaty was re- 
jected by a unanimous vote. No doubt the people of that 
country were convinced that the United States was determined 
to construct the canal, and that nothing more than a deter- 
mined opposition to the terms of the pending treaty would be 
necessary to obtain a larger sum than was offered and to re- 
strict somewhat the granted privileges. 

But the act under which the undertaking was sanctioned 
provided that unless a satisfactory arrangement should be made 
with Colombia " in a reasonable time," the alternative plan of 
a Nicaraguan Canal should be adopted. It was urged that the 
condition so described existed, and that it was the duty of the 
President to turn to Nicaragua. Manifestly, however, it was 
in the discretion of the President to determine what was a 
reasonable time, and he was not at all disposed to abandon 
the Panama route. 

Probably the true history of the events which followed will 
never be known, so far as the agency in them of any persons 
connected with or acting for the government of the United 
States, is concerned. Immediately after the adjournment of the 
Congress of Colombia, on November 4, 1903, there was a ris- 
ing in the City of Panama, and the independence of the State 
of Panama was declared. The revolution was bloodless. It is 
not known how many of the people were cognizant of the 
movement before it took place, but there was certainly no op- 
position to it in the State. Colombia undertook to move troops 
to the seat of the insurrection, but was prevented from doing 
so by an order from President Roosevelt directing the use of 
United States marines, from naval vessels stationed in Col- 
ombian waters, to oppose the use of the Panama Railroad for 
moving troops. An old treaty with New Grenada, the prede- 
cessor of Colombia, by which the United States undertook to 
guarantee the sovereignty of the republic, and to protect the 
free transit of the isthmus, was the excuse for this act. The 
opponents of the administration were not slow to point out 
that the treaty was used to destroy the sovereignty of the 
government it was designed to protect. But the order stood, 
the secession of Panama was accomplished, Colombia was pow- 
erless to do more than protest, and within a few days the in- 
dependence of Panama was formally recognized by President 
Roosevelt. 



90 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

It was easy to suspect that the whole movement was planned 
at Washington ; or at least by agents of the United States gov- 
ernment ; or, if not so, that information of what was to occur 
was furnished to the government before the insurrection be- 
gan. This is not the place either to present the facts on which 
such suspicions were founded, or to analyse those facts in de- 
fence of the acts of the administration. It may be true to say 
that the people of the United States were so much in earnest 
in favor of constructing the canal that they did not wish to 
know the whole truth. They would probably have said — a 
large majority of them — that they would justify what was 
done, even if it were an act of war against a weak and defence- 
less nation, and even if they would have considered twice be- 
fore they would have acted in like manner toward a country 
that was capable of resisting. Ingenious theories were advanced, 
based on such considerations as this : that the United States 
proposed to undertake a great work for the welfare of all man- 
kind, and that the fictions of sovereignty over a small strip of 
territory should not be allowed to be an obstacle. Another 
idea, somewhat akin to this, was that the United States was 
merely acting upon the principle of international eminent do- 
main. None of these theories convinced or silenced those 
who refused to be drawn away from the fundamental prin- 
ciple of the equality of sovereign nations and the practice of 
equal and exact justice and fair dealing by all. Neverthe- 
less the people of the United States as a whole pardoned the 
offence, if offence they deemed it, and there is no evidence 
whatever that the cause of the President exercised the re- 
motest adverse influence upon his own political fortunes, or 
upon those of his party. 

One phase of the affair, however, which persists on any 
view of the coup made by the United States, has never been 
excused by those who are sensitive as to the honor of the gov- 
ernment. Colombia had rights in the isthmus for which the 
French company was willing to pay, and for which the United 
States agreed by treaty to pay. It lost those rights by the act 
of a handful of its citizens following an act of its own which 
was foolish and arrogant, no doubt, but was by no means un- 
pardonable. Thereupon this government seized those rights 
and, a strong nation dealing with a weak one, has never given 
any compensation to Colombia for them, has persistently re- 
fused to submit the claim Colombia makes to arbitration, and 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 91 

leaves the neighbor whom the Monroe Doctrine obliges it to 
protect against others, defenceless against itself. Even the 
right of eminent domain provides cempensation for property- 
condemned under its operation. 

As soon as the new government of Panama was fully organ- 
ized a treaty was made with it upon much more favorable 
terms than had been incorporated in the treaty with Colombia. 
Panama ceded in absolute sovereignty a strip across the conti- 
nent ten miles wide, and consented to the sanitation of the cities 
of Colon and Panama by the United States. The ten millions 
that were to be paid to Colombia, according to the rejected 
treaty, were promised to Panama. The treaty was concluded 
in December, 1903, and was ratified by the Senate on February 
23, 1904. The payment of that sum, and of the forty millions 
purchase money to the French Company, was skilfully effected 
by the Treasury Department without any disturbance of the 
money market; and since the transfer of the franchise and 
property the work of constructing the canal has proceeded 
without interruption from any quarter. 

During the period of this administration, the government had 
upon its hands two important matters in its relations with for- 
eign governments. The United States had its own difficulty 
with Venezuela, but at this time the old grievance was not at 
issue. Venezuela had contracted loans which were held in sev- 
eral European countries, were long outstanding, long overdue, 
and not only unpaid but treated by the debtor as though they 
did not exist. Negotiations having failed, some of the creditors 
resolved to take measures to enforce payment. In 1902 Great 
Britain, Germany, and Italy sent naval vessels to the coast of 
Venezuela for the purpose of enforcing their demands. The 
British government probably deemed unnecessary any assurance 
that its action would not be adverse to American interests and 
policy. Germany, not, of course, under suspicion, but less 
closely bound to America than Great Britain, gave notice in a 
friendly spirit of its intention to use forcible means to collect 
the debts owed to its citizens by Venezuela, and added to the 
notification this important assurance : " We declare also that 
under no circumstances do we consider in our proceedings the 
acquisition or permanent occupation of Venezuelan territory." 
Secretary Hay, in his reply to the communication, said : " The 
Monroe Doctrine is a declaration that there must be no territo- 
rial aggression by any non- American power at the expense of 



92 A HISTOKY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

any American power on American soil. It is in no wise in- 
tended as hostile to any nation in the Old World." 

The British, German, and Italian ships established a " pacific 
blockade " of the Venezuelan coast, and captured some Vene- 
zuelan merchant vessels. Less pacific than these acts, which are 
ordinarily regarded as at least technically war measures, was 
the action of Germany in bombarding a coast town. President 
Castro, when he was fully convinced that the United States did 
not propose to protect him in his denial of justice to his cred- 
itors, yielded to the demand for a conference and an agreement 
to meet the obligations of his government. The conference took 
place, and Venezuela consented to set apart the customs duties 
from certain ports for the discharge of its foreign debts. A de- 
mand by the three powers which had extorted the concession 
that their claims should first be satisfied, was resisted by the 
other powers concerned, and was referred to the Hague Tribu- 
nal, which decided that the claim was just. Moreover, the Tri- 
bunal laid upon the government of the United States the duty 
of overseeing the settlement and of making sure that Venezuela 
kept its promises. In that act, it may reasonably be held, was 
an international recognition of the Monroe Doctrine, as there 
was a recognition of it by Germany when it disclaimed an in- 
tention to acquire or occupy permanently Venezuelan territory. 
No less than ten governments presented claims under the agree- 
ment, — in addition to the three that took aggressive action, 
the governments of the United States, France, Spain, Belgium, 
the Netherlands, Sweden, and Mexico. 

The other diplomatic matter above referred to was the 
Alaska boundary question. The line between the United States 
and the British- American possessions was more or less in con- 
troversy for a hundred and twenty years after the acknowledg- 
ment of American independence, and was not finally established 
until the year 1903. The question as to the Alaskan boundary 
arose in consequence of the purchase of Russian America, and 
the discovery of gold in the Klondike, in disputable territory. 
Canada found itself shut off from access to the sea, not only by 
the American interpretation of the treaty under which Alaska 
was ceded, but by every existing map on which the boundary 
line was drawn. The main question was whether the line should 
be drawn ten leagues inland following the sinuosities of the 
coast, or from headland to headland. In the one case Canada 
would be cut off altogether from tidewater, If the line were 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 93 

drawn from headland to headland Canada would gain the im- 
portant Lynn canal, and would also have access to the sea by 
numerous bays and estuaries. It is needless to say that Canada 
maintained the justice of its contention as earnestly as the op- 
posite contention was maintained in the United States, although 
historically and cartographically there seemed nothing to sus- 
tain a claim that had never been even suggested prior to the 
discovery of gold in the region. But it was a matter to be de- 
cided, and Great Britain and the United States agreed to sub- 
mit it to a joint commission of three on each side. From the 
beginning Canada was dissatisfied with the appointment of com- 
missioners on the part of the United States whom they regarded 
as biassed, prejudiced, and incapable of weighing the question 
judicially. The British commissioners were Lord Chief Justice 
Alverstone and two Canadians. The commission met in London, 
and in November, 1903, decided the matter in accordance with 
the American view, except on a minor point. The majority con- 
sisted of Lord Alverstone and the three Americans. The deci- 
sion gave great dissatisfaction in Canada, where the popular 
displeasure was about equally divided between the American 
commissioners, Lord Alverstone, and the British government, 
which was declared once more to have sacrificed Canadian in- 
terests to American arrogance and greed. 

One of the most important labor struggles, important both 
by its magnitude and duration and on account of its political 
consequences, was the strike, in 1902, in the anthracite coal 
region of Pennsylvania. The history of the strike is long and 
complicated, but the details — the grievances alleged by the 
miners and the ultimate settlement — need not here be recited. 
The strike began in May, 1902, and lasted five months. It 
was attended with not a little violence. Both sides were firm 
and uncompromising. As winter was drawing on, and as a ter- 
rible scarcity of fuel was seen to be inevitable, the President 
determined to use his power to the utmost to bring the struggle 
to a close. He summoned John Mitchell, the representative 
of the miners, to a conference, on October 3, and a few days 
later appointed a commission of prominent men to inquire into 
the whole question, and advise terms of settlement. Meantime 
the miners were to return to work immediately, the strike being 
declared " off," and were to accept the settlement to be recom- 
mended, whatever it might be. The strike did end on October 
21 ; the commission recommended concession of some of the 



91 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

miner's demands and rejected others, and the settlement was 
to stand, and did stand, for three years. 

Mr. Roosevelt's intervention in this labor dispute cost him 
the permanent loss of some of his former supporters, and brought 
to his support many who had previously opposed him. In some 
quarters his course was regarded as evidence, not merely that 
he was inclined to sympathize with " organized labor,'' even 
when it assumed the right to something like an equal share in 
the conduct of the employing business, but also that he would 
take actively the side of " labor" against combined " capital." 
It was also urged with some vehemence that his interference 
in the coal dispute was officious and unconstitutional. The per- 
sonal opposition to him that arose from this incident was cer- 
tainly more than offset by the support which he gained among 
those who sympathized with the coal miners ; and in the com- 
munity at large there was a general feeling of gratitude to him 
for having brought to a close a dispute which caused most se- 
rious inconvenience and financial loss through the extreme scarc- 
ity of coal and an unprecedented cost of the article. There 
was little or no disposition to quarrel with an act which put 
an end to an intolerable situation, and the argument of uncon- 
stitutionality fell on deaf ears. 

Although these events of the administration have been de- 
scribed at some length, there is no reason to think that either 
or all of them had an appreciable influence upon the result of 
the ensuing election. On a retrospective view it seems safe to 
say that during the three years of Mr. Roosevelt's first admin- 
istration the thoughts of leading politicians on both sides were 
directed — so far as they were thoughts of the election of 1904 
— rather to persons than to policies. 

The sentiment on the Republican side has already been sug- 
gested. Mr. Roosevelt was undeniably a popular candidate. 
The movement in his favor began earlier, and developed 
greater strength • than had ever been manifested in the case of 
a Vice-President who had succeeded to the presidency on the 
death of the chosen President. Tyler, Fillmore, Johnson, Ar- 
thur, — all had support in nominating conventions, but not one 
of them was really expected to become the candidate. So early 
as June, 1902, Republican State conventions in Kansas and 
Pennsylvania passed resolutions in favor of the reelection of 
Mr. Roosevelt. We should probably have to go as far back as 
the time of General Jackson to cite similar action, so early in 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 95 

an administration, in favor even of an elected President. Sub- 
sequently other State conventions urged the reelection of Mr. 
Roosevelt, most of them heartily, some — as in the case of 
New York — with obvious reluctance and with no pretence of 
enthusiasm. For there was opposition to him. He was accused 
of impulsiveness and rashness, of over-confidence in his own 
judgment and discernment of right and wrong; and those who 
held this opinion of him regarded him as "unsafe." In secret, 
no doubt, there was plotting to bring forward another candi- 
date. The person most considered as an alternative was Sen- 
ator Hanna of Ohio. But it is only the truth to say that all 
suggestions of that sort were futile. No amount of political 
management could have brought about the defeat of Mr. 
Roosevelt. Not only an overwhelming majority of the Repub- 
lican rank and file, but a great majority of the active politi- 
cians were in his favor. Many of the so-called " leaders" in 
both Houses of Congress were against him, but they led a piti- 
ful minority of those who were to make the decision. 

A remarkable situation developed in the Democratic party. 
Mr. Bryan had twice been the candidate, and twice had been 
defeated. He was the representative and advocate of an ex- 
treme radical policy. The conservative element had supported 
him half-heartedly, or refused to vote, or had gone over for 
the time being to the Republican candidates. Early in Mr. 
Roosevelt's administration the conservatives began to urge 
that the time had come to abandon the policies which had 
come into Democratic platforms by the way of Populism, and 
to revert to the ancient and time-honored principles of the 
party. Some resistance was offered to the movement, but on 
the whole it was successful. Some western Democratic State 
conventions refused to endorse the national platform of 1900 ; 
in the South there was much outspoken weariness of the dom- 
inance of Mr. Bryan in the control of the party. The East 
had never been particularly earnest in support of the candi- 
date and the platforms of 1896 and 1900, and was ready to 
join in the movement for a "safe and sane" candidate and 
platform. 

How to make the choice of a candidate was easily argued 
out. The Democrats could not succeed unless they could carry 
several large northern States, and their minds turned naturally 
to the four which had longest remained Democratic or " doubt- 
ful," — New York, New Jersey, Indiana, and Connecticut. 



96 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

They could hardly hope to win anyway unless they could have 
the electoral vote of New York. So they must have a candi- 
date who, above all things, must be able to carry that State. 
He must have a clear record of not having bolted Mr. Bryan 
or any other Democratic candidate. He must nevertheless not 
be identified with either wing of the party. He must be a man 
of high standing and one who commanded general respect. 
Support — so far as those who took the foregoing view of 
what was expedient was concerned — was concentrated upon 
Judge Alton B. Parker of New York. Mr. Parker, after long 
service as a judge of the supreme court of the State, was, in 
1897, elected chief judge of the Court of Appeals, for a term 
that would end in 1911. Personally and politically he com- 
manded respect. He was believed to be conservative in his 
tendencies, but he had not been guilty of deserting his party 
when it followed Mr. Bryan and professed radical principles. 
It was therefore believed that he could have the support of 
both wings of the party, and that he, if any Democrat, could 
carry New York. 

But it would give a grossly misleading view of the situation 
to leave the impression that the movement which eventually 
made Judge Parker the candidate received general acquiescence, 
or was not stoutly resisted. Mr. Bryan himself, who declared 
— and maintained his declaration — that he was not a candi- 
date for the nomination, in a speech at Chicago, on April 23, 
1904, attacked the "reorganizes," and taking for his text the 
platform which the Democratic State Convention had recently 
adopted, said, " I am sanguine to believe that I can prove to 
every unbiassed mind that Judge Parker is not a fit man to be 
nominated either by the Democratic party or by any other 
party that stands for honesty and fair dealing in politics." In 
saying this he assumed what was undoubtedly true, that the 
platform met with Judge Parker's approval, since the conven- 
tion was controlled by his friends and supporters for the nom- 
ination. 

But if there was to be no reorganization, if the party was 
to continue to maintain the principles inseparably associated 
with the name and the advocacy of Mr. Bryan, who was to be 
the candidate ? The answer introduces us to one of the strang- 
est episodes in American political history. It is too soon after 
the event to narrate in detail the rise and progress in national 
politics of Mr. William R. Hearst. Although it is impossible 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 97 

not to take note of the importance of the movement in his 
favor in 1904, it is equally impossible to present more than 
the barest outline of events without being open to an accusa- 
tion of partisanship on one side or the other. Mr. Hearst was 
the sole owner of eight daily newspapers in five cities — New 
York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. He 
was elected to Congress from a New York City district in 
1902. Both as editor and as congressman he took extreme 
radical ground. In his newspapers he was a champion of the 
cause of labor, and an unsparing opponent of corporations and 
of corporate wealth. He became the president of several sep- 
arate organizations of political clubs, all of which were formed 
to promote his fortunes as a candidate for the presidency, and 
his newspapers were a powerful engine to accomplish the same 
end. If he did not attach to himself a large number of the 
leaders of the Democratic party, he did gain the favor and the 
enthusiastic support of a vast number of the rank and file of 
the men who had votes. His "boom" made little show at 
first, for the methods employed by himself and his friends, 
although consummately effective, were quite unusual in politi- 
cal manoeuvering. 

Indeed, Mr. Hearst's boom was for some time treated with 
derision. It was only when the Democratic war horses discov- 
ered that the new comer in the field was making great progress, 
that he was certain to appear in the national convention with 
a formidable number of delegates, that they began, if not to 
feel .alarm at the result, at least to bestir themselves to defeat 
him. History told them that more than one national convention 
had been carried off its feet by a sudden burst of personal en- 
thusiasm., and they could not afford to take the risk of such a 
stampede. 

The first nominating convention of the year 1904 was that 
of the Socialist party, which met at Chicago on Sunday, May 1, 
and continued in session six days. The convention consisted 
of 184 delegates, representing 33 States and two territories. 
Eight of the delegates were women. The convention was re- 
markable for the number of editors of socialist journals and 
periodicals who were members. More than half of all the news- 
papers of the country engaged in the propagation of socialist 
principles were represented by members of their staffs. James 
F. Carey, ,of Massachusetts, was the temporary chairman of 



98 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

the convention. There was no permanent president, but the 
convention chose a chairman for the day at the opening of each 
session. 

The business transacted was much more extensive in amount 
and scope than that of ordinary national nominating conven- 
tions. In addition to the platform of principles the convention 
adopted a constitution for the party, after a detailed discussion, 
clause by clause. It also presented separate " programs " of 
State and municipal reforms, and passed many resolutions ex- 
pressing the opinion of the members on events of the day — 
the Japanese war, occurrences in Colorado, and the like. The 
debates upon all these matters were conducted in a manner — 
be it said without offence — characteristic of the free spoken, 
sometimes even violent, methods of Socialists. Several of the 
verbal encounters between speakers and the chair were decidedly 
unparliamentary, judged by ordinary standards. 

It was well that the convention had so much business to 
occupy it, for it was not until the afternoon of the fifth day 
that the platform was ready to be reported. It was known from 
the beginning that the sentiment of the convention was divided 
on two subjects. There was a radical faction which desired to 
put into the platform a declaration concerning marriage, and 
the dissolubility of the marital relation which was strongly 
opposed by the more conservative delegates. The chairman of 
the committee was an extreme radical on this question. There 
was another division on the subject of the relation of socialism 
and the Socialist party to trade unions. One faction wished to 
effect an alliance between the party and the organizations re- 
presenting labor ; the other faction maintained that the trade 
unionists were endeavoring to effect merely a single reform in 
their own interest, and that they should receive political as- 
sistance only on condition of their joining the Socialist party. 
As will be seen the platform adopted makes no reference what- 
ever to the marriage relation; on the trade union question the 
convention both in independent resolutions, and in the plat- 
form, followed a course of compromise, strongly approving the 
demands of labor and urging all members of the " worker class" 
to become Socialists. The platform, which follows, was unani- 
mously adopted. 

1. The Socialist party, in convention assembled, makes its appeal 
to the American people as the defender and preserver of the idea 
of liberty and self-government, in which the nation was born ; as 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 99 

the only political movement standing for the program and princi- 
ples by which the liberty of the individual may become a fact ; as 
the only political organization that is democratic, and that has for 
its purpose the democratizing of the whole of society. 

To this idea of liberty the Republican and Democratic parties 
are equally false. They alike struggle for power to maintain and 
profit by an industrial system which can be preserved only by the 
complete overthrow of such liberties as we already have, and by 
the still further enslavement and degradation of labor. 

Our American institutions came into the world in the name of 
freedom. They have been seized upon by the capitalist class as 
the means of rooting out the idea of freedom from among the people. 
Our state and national legislatures have become the mere agencies 
of great propertied interests. These interests control the appoint- 
ments and decisions of the judges of our courts. They have come 
into what is practically a private ownership of all the functions 
and forces of government. They are using these to betray and con- 
quer foreign and weaker peoples, in order to establish new markets 
for the surplus goods which the people make, but are too poor to 
buy. They are gradually so invading and restricting the right of 
suffrage as to take away unawares the right of the worker to a vote 
or voice in public affairs. By enacting new and misinterpreting 
old laws, they are preparing to attack the liberty of the individual 
even to speak or think for himself, or for the common good. 

By controlling all the sources of social revenue, the possessing 
class is able to silence what might be the voice of protest against 
the passing of liberty and the coming of tyranny. It completely 
controls the university and public school, the pulpit and the press, 
and the arts and literatures. By making these economically de- 
pendent upon itself, it has brought all the forms of public teaching 
into servile submission to its own interests. 

Our political institutions are also being used as the destroyers 
of that individual property upon which all liberty and opportunity 
depend. The promise of economic independence to each man was 
one of the faiths upon which our institutions were founded. But, 
under the guise of defending private property, capitalism is using 
our political institutions to make it impossible for the vast major- 
ity of human beings ever to become possessors of private property 
in the means of life. 

Capitalism is the enemy and destroyer of essential private prop- 
erty. Its development is through the legalized confiscation of all 
that the labor of the working class produces, above its subsistence- 
wage. The private ownership of the means of employment grounds 
society in an economic slavery which renders intellectual and 
political tyranny inevitable. 



100 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Socialism comes so to organize industry and society that every 
individual shall be secure in that private property in the means of 
life upon which his liberty of being, thought and action depend. 
It comes to rescue the people from the fast increasing and success- 
ful assault of capitalism upon the liberty of the individual. 

2. As an American socialist party, we pledge our fidelity to the 
principles of international socialism, as embodied in the united 
thought and action of the socialists of all nations. In the industrial 
development already accomplished, the interests of the world's 
workers are separated by no national boundaries. The condition 
of the most exploited and oppressed workers, in the most remote 
places of the earth, inevitably tends to drag down all the workers 
of the world to the same level. The tendency of the competitive 
wage system is to make labor's lowest condition the measure or 
rule of its universal condition. Industry and finance are no longer 
national but international, in both organization and results. The 
chief significance of national boundaries, and of the so-called pa- 
triotisms which the ruling class of each nation is seeking to revive, 
is the power which these give to capitalism to keep the workers 
of the world from uniting, and to throw them against each other 
in the struggles of contending capitalist interests for the control 
of the yet unexploited markets of the world, or the remaining 
sources of profit. 

The socialist movement, therefore, is a world-movement. It 
knows of no conflicts of interests between the workers of one na- 
tion and the workers of another. It stands for the freedom of the 
workers of all nations ; and, in so standing, it makes for the full 
freedom of all humanity. 

3. The socialist movement owes its birth and growth to that eco- 
nomic development or world-process which is rapidly separating 
a working or producing class from a possessing or capitalist class. 
The class that produces nothing possesses labor's fruits, and the 
opportunities and enjoyments these fruits afford, while the class 
that does the world's real work has increasing economic uncer- 
tainty, and physical and intellectual misery, for its portion. 

The fact that these two classes have not yet become fully con- 
scious of their distinction from each other, the fact that the lines 
of division and interest may not yet be clearly drawn, does not 
change the fact of the class conflict. 

This class struggle is due to the private ownership of the means 
of employment, or the tools of production. Wherever and when- 
ever man owned his own land and tools, and by them produced 
only the things which he used, economic independence was possi- 
ble. But production, or the making of goods, has long ceased to 
be individual. The labor of scores, or even thousands, enters into 



KOOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 101 

almost every article produced. Production is now social or collect- 
ive. Practically everything is made or done by many men — 
sometimes separated by seas or continents — working together for 
the same end. But this cooperation in production is not for the 
direct use of the things made by the workers who make them, but 
for the profit of the owners of the tools and means of production ; 
and to this is due the present division of society into two classes ; 
and from it have sprung all the miseries, inharmonies and contra- 
dictions of our civilization. 

Between these two classes there can be no possible compromise 
or identity of interest, any more than there can be peace in the 
midst of war, or light in the midst of darkness. A society based 
upon this class division carries in itself the seeds of its own de- 
struction. Such a society is founded in fundamental injustice. 
There can be no possible basis for social peace, for individual free- 
dom, for mental and moral harmony, except in the conscious and 
complete triumph of the working class as the only class that has 
the right or power to be. 

4. The socialist program is not a theory imposed upon society 
for its acceptance or rejection. It is but the interpretation of what 
is, sooner or later, inevitable. Capitalism is already struggling to 
its destruction. It is no longer competent to organize or administer 
the work of the world, or even to preserve itself. The captains of 
industry are appalled at their own inability to control or direct the 
rapidly socializing forces of industry. The so-called trust is but a 
sign and form of the developing socialization of the world's work. 
The universal increase of the uncertainty of employment, the 
universal capitalist determination to break down the unity of labor 
in the trades unions, the widespread apprehensions of impending 
change, reveal that the institutions of capitalist society are pass- 
ing under the power of inhering forces that will soon destroy 
them. 

Into the midst of the strain and crisis of civilization, the social- 
ist movement comes as the only conservatiye force. If the world 
is to be saved from chaos, from universal disorder and misery, it 
must be by the union of the workers of all nations in the socialist 
movement. The socialist party comes with the only proposition or 
program for intelligently and deliberately organizing the nation 
for the common good of all its citizens. It is the first time that the 
mind of man has ever been directed toward the conscious organ- 
ization of society. 

Socialism means that all those things upon which the people in 
common depend shall by the people in common be owned and ad- 
ministered. It means that the tools of employment shall belong 
to their creators and users ; that all production shall be for the 



102 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

direct use of the producers ; that the making of goods for profit 
shall come to an end ; that we shall all be workers together ; and 
that all opportunities shall be open and equal to all men. 

5. To the end that the workers may seize every possible advan- 
tage that may strengthen them to gain complete control of the 
powers of government, and thereby the sooner establish the coop- 
erative commonwealth, the Socialist Party pledges itself to watch 
and work, in both the economic and the political struggle, for each 
successive immediate interest of the working class ; for shortened 
days of labor and increases of wages ; for the insurance of the 
workers against accident, sickness and lack of employment ; for 
pensions for aged and exhausted workers ; for the public owner- 
ship of the means of transportation, communication and exchange ; 
for the graduated taxation of incomes, inheritances, franchises 
and land values, the proceeds to be applied to the public employ- 
ment and improvement of the conditions of the workers ; for the 
complete education of children, and their freedom from the work- 
shop; for the prevention of the use of the military against labor 
in the settlement of strikes ; for the free administration of justice ; 
for popular government, including initiative, referendum, propor- 
tional representation, equal suffrage of men and women, munici- 
pal home rule, and the recall of officers by their constituents ; and 
for every gain or advantage for the workers that may be wrested 
from the capitalist system, and that may relieve the suffering and 
strengthen the hands of labor. We lay upon every man elected 
to any executive or legislative office the first duty of striving to 
procure whatever is for the workers' most immediate interest, and 
for whatever will lessen the economic and political powers of the 
capitalist, and increase the like powers of the worker. 

But, in so doing, we are using these remedial measures as 
means to the one great end of the cooperative commonwealth. 
Such measures of relief as we may be able to force from capital- 
ism are but a preparation of the workers to seize the whole powers 
of government, in order that they may thereby lay hold of the 
whole system of industry, and thus come into their rightful in- 
heritance. 

To this end we pledge ourselves, as the party of the working 
class, to use all political power, as fast as it shall be entrusted to 
us by our fellow-workers, both for their immediate interests and 
for their ultimate and complete emancipation. To this end we ap- 
peal to all the workers of America, and to all who will lend their 
lives to the service of the workers in their struggle to gain their 
own, and to all who will nobly and disinterestedly give their days 
and energies unto the workers' cause, to cast in their lot and faith 
with the socialist party. Our appeal for the trust and suffrages 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 103 

of our fellow-workers is at once an appeal for their common good 
and freedom, and for the freedom and blossoming of our common 
humanity. In pledging ourselves, and those we represent, to be 
faithful to the appeal which we make, we believe that we are but 
preparing the soil of that economic freedom from which will 
spring the freedom of the whole man. 

It was clear from all the proceedings of the convention that 
the members regarded the platform as of much greater import- 
ance than the nominations. In fact, there was at no time any 
doubt as to the candidates. Immediately after the adoption of 
the platform, on May 5, Eugene V. Debs, of Indiana, was 
nominated by acclamation as the candidate for President, and 
Benjamin Hanford, of New York, was, also by acclamation, 
named for Vice-President. The convention remained in session 
another day to finish its business. 

The United Christian party has for many years held an an- 
nual convention, the members of which are not in a strict 
sense delegates. The meeting in 1904 was not reported in any 
public journal, and it was not possible, even if it were import- 
ant, to ascertain how many persons attended, nor the nature 
of the proceedings, except the declaration of principles, which 
is appended. It was determined not to make any nominations, 
but to devote the energies of those present to a dissemination 
of the views of the party, which were announced as follows : — 

We, the United Christian party, in national mass convention as- 
sembled, in His name, in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, May 2, 
1904, acknowledging Almighty God as our Father and Jesus Christ 
as our leader, commander, governor and king ; believing that the 
time has now come when all Christians and patriots should unite on 
the day of election and vote direct on all questions of vital import- 
ance, and apply Christian golden rule to all government by and for 
the people, do hereby declare that the platform and purpose of the 
United Christian party is and shall be to work and stand for union 
in His name, according to the Lord's Prayer, for the fulfillment 
of God's law through direct legislation of the people governed by 
the golden rule, regardless of sex, creed, color, nationality. 

As an expression of consent or allegiance on the part of the 
governed, in harmony with the above statements — 

We also declare in favor of direct legislation providing for an 
equal standard of morals for both sexes, and most vigorously op- 
pose the traffic in girls and all forms of the social evil. 

We are opposed to war and condemn mob violence. 



104 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

We favor government ownership of coal mines, oil wells and 
public utilities. 

We are opposed to government revenue from the manufacture 
and sale of intoxicating liquor as a beverage. 

We are opposed to all trusts and combines contrary to the wel- 
fare of the common people, and declare that Christian government 
through direct legislation will regulate the trusts and labor prob- 
lem according to the golden rule. 

The convention of the Republican party, held at Chicago on 
June 21-23, was uneventful. There was no contest over either 
the platform or the candidates. It was known in advance that 
Mr. Roosevelt would be nominated for reelection with complete 
unanimity ; and as soon as the consent of Mr. Fairbanks was 
obtained to take the second place on the ticket there was no 
suggestion that any other person would be proposed. Elihu 
Root, of New York, was the temporary chairman and Joseph 
G. Cannon, of Illinois, was the permanent president of the 
convention. Each of the presiding officers made long and ela- 
borate addresses, which their eminence in the public service, 
their ability and their standing in the party combined to ren- 
der important features of the convention proceedings. On the 
second day the following platform was reported and unani- 
mously adopted : — 

Fifty years ago the Republican party came into existence, dedi- 
cated, among other purposes, to the great task of arresting the ex- 
tension of human slavery. In 1860 it elected its first President. 
During twenty-four years of the forty-four which have elapsed 
since the election of Lincoln the Republican party has held com- 
plete control of the government. For eighteen more of the forty- 
four years it has held partial control through the possession of 
one or two branches of the government, while the Democratic 
party during the same period has had complete control for only 
two years. This long tenure of power by the Republican party is 
not due to chance. It is a demonstration that the Republican party 
has commanded the confidence of the American people for nearly 
two generations to a degree never equalled in our history, and has 
displayed a high capacity for rule and government which has 
been made even more conspicuous by the incapacity and infirmity 
of purpose shown by its opponents. 

The Republican party entered upon its present period of com- 
plete supremacy in 1897. We have every right to congratulate our- 
selves upon the work since then accomplished, for it has added 
lustre even to the traditions of the party which carried the Gov- 



ROOSEVELT'S « SECOND ELECTION" 105 

ernment through the storms of civil war. We then found the 
country, after four years of Democratic rule, in evil plight, op- 
pressed with misfortune, and doubtful of the future. Public credit 
had been lowered, the revenues were declining, the debt was grow- 
ing, the Administration's attitude toward Spain was feeble and 
mortifying, the standard of values was threatened and uncertain, 
labor was unemployed, business was sunk in the depression which 
had succeeded the panic of 1893, hope was faint, and confidence 
was gone. 

We met these unhappy conditions vigorously, effectively and at 
once. We replaced a Democratic tariff law based on free-trade 
principles and garnished with sectional protection by a consistent 
protective tariff, and industry, freed from suppression and stimu- 
lated by the encouragement of wise laws, has expanded to a degree 
never before known, has conquered new markets and has created 
a volume of exports which has surpassed imagination. Under 
the Dingley Tariff labor has been fully employed, wages have 
risen and all industries have revived and prospered. 

We firmly established the gold standard, which was then men- 
aced with destruction. Confidence returned to business, and with 
confidence an unexampled prosperity. For deficient revenues sup- 
plemented by improvident issues of bonds we gave the country an 
income which produced a large surplus, and which enabled us only 
four years after the Spanish War had closed to remove over one 
hundred millions of annual war taxes, reduce the public debt and 
lower the interest charges of the Government. The public credit, 
which had been so lowered that in time of peace a Democratic ad- 
ministration made large loans at extravagant rates of interest in 
order to pay current expenditures, rose under Republican admin- 
istration to its highest point, and enabled us to borrow at 2 per 
cent., even in time of war. 

We refused to palter longer with the miseries of Cuba. We fought 
a quick and victorious war with Spain. We set Cuba free, governed 
the island for three years, and then gave it to the Cuban people 
with order restored, with ample revenues, with education and pub- 
lic health established, free from debt, and connected with the 
United States by wise provisions for our mutual interests. 

We have organized the government of Porto Rico, and its people 
now enjoy peace, freedom, order and prosperity. 

In the Philippines we have suppressed insurrection, established 
order, and given to life and property a security never known there 
before. We have organized civil government, made it effective and 
strong in administration, and have conferred upon the people of 
those islands the largest civil liberty they have ever enjoyed. By 
our possession of the Philippines we were enabled to take prompt 



106 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

and effective action in the relief of the legations at Peking, and a 
decisive part in preventing the partition and preserving the integ- 
rity of China. 

The possession of a route for an Isthmian canal, so long the 
dream of American statesmanship, is now an accomplished fact. 
The great work of connecting the Pacific and Atlantic by a canal 
is at last begun, and it is due to the Republican party. 

We have passed laws which will bring the arid lands of the 
United States within the area of cultivation. 

We have reorganized the army and put it in the highest state of 
efficiency. 

We have passed laws for the improvement and support of the 
militia. 

We have pushed forward the building of the navy, the defence 
and protection of our honor and our interests. 

Our administration of the great departments of the Government 
has been honest and efficient, and wherever wrongdoing has been 
discovered the Republican administration has not hesitated to 
probe the evil and bring offenders to justice without regard to 
party or political ties. 

Laws enacted by the Republican party which the Democratic 
party failed to enforce, and which were intended for the protection 
of the public against the unjust discrimination or the illegal en- 
croachment of vast aggregations of capital, have been fearlessly 
enforced by a Republican President, and new laws insuring reason- 
able publicity as to the operations of great corporations and pro- 
viding additional remedies for the prevention of discrimination in 
freight rates have been passed by a Republican Congress. 

In this record of achievement during the past eight years may 
be read the pledges which the Republican party has fulfilled. We 
promise to continue these policies and we declare our constant ad- 
herence to the following principles : 

Protection which guards and develops our industries is a car- 
dinal policy of the Republican party. The measure of protection 
should always at least equal the difference in the cost of produc- 
tion at home and abroad. We insist upon the maintenance of the 
principles of protection, and therefore rates of duty should be re- 
adjusted only when conditions have so changed that the public 
interest demands their alteration, but this work cannot safely be 
committed to any other hands than those of the Republican party. 
To intrust it to the Democratic party is to invite disaster. Whether, 
as in 1892, the Democratic party declares the protective tariff 
unconstitutional, or whether it demands tariff reform or tariff 
revision, its real object is always the destruction of the protective 
system. However specious the name, the purpose is ever the 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 107 

same. A Democratic tariff has always been followed by busi- 
ness adversity ; a Republican tariff by business prosperity. To a 
Republican Congress and a Republican President this great ques- 
tion can be safely intrusted. When the only free-trade country 
among the great nations agitates a return to protection, the chief 
protective country should not falter in maintaining it. 

We have extended widely our foreign markets, and we believe 
in the adoption of all practicable methods for their further exten- 
sion, including commercial reciprocity wherever reciprocal arrange- 
ments can be effected consistent with the principles of protection, 
and without injury to American agriculture, American labor or 
any American industry. 

We believe it to be the duty of the Republican party to uphold 
the gold standard and the integrity and value of our national cur- 
rency. The maintenance of the gold standard, established by the 
Republican party, cannot safely be committed to the Democratic 
party, which resisted its adoption, and has never given any proof 
since that time of belief in it or fidelity to it. 

While every other industry has prospered under the fostering aid 
of Republican legislation, American shipping engaged in foreign 
trade, in competition with the low cost of construction, low wages 
and heavy subsidies of foreign governments, has not for many years 
received from the Government of the United States adequate en- 
couragement of any kind. We therefore favor legislation which 
will encourage and build up the American merchant marine, and 
we cordially approve the legislation of the last Congress, which 
created the Merchant Marine Commission to investigate and report 
upon this subject. 

A navy powerful enough to defend the United States against any 
attack, to uphold the Monroe Doctrine, and to watch over our com- 
merce, is essential to the safety and the welfare of the American 
people. To maintain such a navy is the fixed policy of the Repub- 
lican party. 

We cordially approve the attitude of President Roosevelt and 
Congress in regard to the exclusion of Chinese labor and promise 
a continuance of the Republican policy in that direction. 

The Civil Service Law was placed on the statute books by the 
Republican party, which has always sustained it, and we renew our 
former declarations that it shall be thoroughly and honestly en- 
forced. 

We are always mindful of the country's debt to the soldiers and 
sailors of the United States, and we believe in making ample provi- 
sion for them, and in the liberal administration of the pension laws. 

We favor the peaceful settlement of international differences by 
arbitration. 



108 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

We commend the vigorous efforts made by the Administration 
to protect American citizens in foreign lands and pledge ourselves 
to insist upon the just and equal protection of all our citizens 
abroad. It is the unquestioned duty of the Government to procure 
for all our citizens, without distinction, the rights of travel and so- 
journ in friendly countries, and we declare ourselves in favor of all 
proper efforts tending to that end. 

Our great interests and our growing commerce in the Orient 
render the condition of China of high importance to the United 
States. We cordially commend the policy pursued in that direction 
by the Administrations of President McKinley and President 
Roosevelt. 

We favor such Congressional action as shall determine whether 
by special discriminations the elective franchise in any State has 
been unconstitutionally limited, and if such is the case, we demand 
that representation in Congress and in the Electoral College shall 
be proportionately reduced as directed by the Constitution of the 
United States. 

Combinations of capital and of labor are the results of the eco- 
nomic movement of the age, but neither must be permitted to in- 
fringe upon the rights and interests of the people. Such combina- 
tions, when lawfully formed for lawful purposes, are alike entitled 
to the protection of the laws, but both are subject to the laws, and 
neither can be permitted to break them. 

The great statesman and patriotic American, William McKinley, 
who was reelected by the Republican party to the Presidency four 
years ago, was assassinated just at the threshold of his second term. 
The entire nation mourned his untimely death, and did that jus- 
tice to his great qualities of mind and character which history will 
confirm and repeat. 

The American people were fortunate in his successor, to whom 
they turned with a trust and confidence which have been fully 
justified. President Roosevelt brought to the great responsibilities 
thus sadly forced upon him a clear head, a brave heart, an earnest 
patriotism and high ideals of public duty and public service. True 
to the principles of the Republican party and to the policies which 
that party had declared, he has also shown himself ready for every 
emergency and has met new and vital questions with ability and 
with success. 

The confidence of the people in his justice, inspired by his public 
career, enabled him to render personally an inestimable service to 
the country by bringing about a settlement of the coal strike, 
which threatened such disastrous results at the opening of Winter 
in 1902. 

Our foreign policy under his administration has not only been 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 109 

able, vigorous and dignified, but in the highest degree successful. 
The complicated questions which arose in Venezuela were settled 
in such a way by President Roosevelt that the Monroe Doctrine 
was signally vindicated, and the cause of peace and arbitration 
greatly advanced. 

His prompt and vigorous action in Panama, which we commend 
in the highest terms, not only secured to us the canal route but 
avoided foreign complications which might have been of a very 
serious character. 

He has continued the policy of President McKinley in the Orient 
and our position in China, signalized by our recent commercial 
treaty with that empire, has never been so high. 

He secured the tribunal by which the vexed and perilous ques- 
tion of the Alaskan boundary was finally settled. 

Whenever crimes against humanity have been perpetrated which 
have shocked our people, his protest has been made and our good 
offices have been tendered, but always with due regard to interna- 
tional obligations. 

Under his guidance we find ourselves at peace with all the world, 
and never were we more respected or our wishes more regarded by 
foreign nations. 

Preeminently successful in regard to our foreign relations, he 
has been equally fortunate in dealing with domestic questions. The 
country has known that the public credit and the national currency 
were absolutely safe in the hands of his Administration. In the 
enforcement of the laws he has shown not only courage, but the 
wisdom which understands that to permit laws to be violated or 
disregarded opens the door to anarchy, while the just enforcement 
of the law is the soundest conservatism. He has held firmly to the' 
fundamental American doctrine that all men must obey the law; 
that there must be no distinction between rich and poor, between 
strong and weak ; but that justice and equal protection under the 
law must be secured to every citizen without regard to race, creed 
or condition. 

His administration has been throughout vigorous and honor- 
able, high-minded and patriotic. We commend it without reserva- 
tion to the considerate judgment of the American people. 

On June 23, Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, was nomi- 
nated as the candidate for President by a unanimous viva voce 
vote of the 994 delegates of the convention. Charles Warren 
Fairbanks, of Indiana, was nominated by acclamation as the 
candidate for Vice-President. 

The Prohibition party held its convention at Indianapolis on 
June 29. There were 704 delegates in attendance, of whom 



110 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

about 60 were women. Most of the States were represented in 
whole or in part, — all but three, North Carolina, South Caro- 
lina and Louisiana, according to one account ; according to an- 
other, there were no delegates present from Montana or Utah. 
Homer L. Castle, of Pennsylvania, was the temporary chair- 
man, and A. G. Wolfenbarger, of Nebraska, the permanent 
president of the convention. The committee on resolutions had 
great difficulty in coming to an agreement on the platform. It 
will be seen that those who urged that special, almost exclu- 
sive, stress should be laid upon the importance of prohibition 
won a victory over those who favored a more general platform, 
similar to those in some earlier canvasses. But the platform 
was generally approved, and was ultimately adopted by a unan- 
imous vote, as follows : — 

The Prohibition party, in national convention assembled, at In- 
dianapolis, June 30, 1904, recognizing that the chief end of all 
government is the establishment of those principles of righteous- 
ness and justice which have been revealed to men as the will of the 
ever-living God, desiring His blessing upon our national life, and 
believing in the perpetuation of the high ideals of government of the 
people, by the people and for the people, established by our fathers, 
makes the following declaration of principles and purposes : 

The widely prevailing system of the licensed and legalized sale 
of alcoholic beverages is so ruinous to individual interests, so inimi- 
cal to public welfare, so destructive of national wealth and so sub- 
versive of the rights of great masses of our citizenship, that. the 
destruction of the traffic is, and for years has been, the most im- 
portant question in American politics. 

We denounce the lack of statesmanship exhibited by the leaders 
of the Democratic and Republican parties in their refusal to re- 
cognize the paramount importance of this question, and the cow- 
ardice with which the leaders of these parties have courted the 
favor of those whose selfish interests are advanced by the continu- 
ation and augmentation of the traffic, until to-day the influence of 
the liquor traffic practically dominates national, State and local 
government throughout the nation. 

We declare the truth, demonstrated by the experience of half a 
century, that all methods of dealing with the liquor traffic which 
recognize its right to exist, in any form, under any system of li- 
cense or tax or regulation, have proved powerless to remove its 
evils, and useless as checks upon its growth, while the insignificant 
public revenues which have accrued therefrom have seared the 
public conscience against a recognition of its iniquity. 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 111 

We call public attention to the fact, proved by the experience 
of more than fifty years, that to secure the enactment and enforce- 
ment of prohibitory legislation, in which alone lies the hope of the 
protection of the people from the liquor traffic, it is necessary that 
the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government 
should be in the hands of a political party in harmony with the 
prohibition principle, and pledged to its embodiment in law, and 
to the execution of those laws. 

We pledge the Prohibition party, wherever given power by the 
suffrages of the people, to the enactment and enforcement of laws 
prohibiting and abolishing the manufacture, importation, trans- 
portation and sale of alcoholic beverages. 

We declare that there is not only no other issue of equal im- 
portance before the American people to-day, but that the so-called 
issues upon which the Democratic and Republican parties seek 
to divide the electorate of the country are, in large part, subter- 
fuges under the cover of which they wrangle for the spoils of 
office. 

Recognizing that the intelligent voters of the country may pro- 
perly ask our attitude upon other questions of public concern, we 
declare ourselves in favor of : 

The impartial enforcement of all law. 

The safeguarding of the people's rights by a rigid application 
of the principles of justice to all combinations and organizations 
of capital and labor. 

The recognition of the fact that the right of suffrage should de- 
pend upon the mental and moral qualifications of the citizen. 

A more intimate relation between the people and government, 
by a wise application of the principle of the initiative and refer- 
endum. 

Such changes in our laws as will place tariff schedules in the 
hands of an omnipartisan commission. 

The application of uniform laws to all our country and depend- 
encies. 

The election of United States Senators by vote of the people. 

The extension and honest administration of the civil service 
laws. 

The safeguarding of every citizen in every place under the gov- 
ernment of the people of the United States, in all the rights guar- 
anteed by the laws and the Constitution. 

International arbitration, and we declare that our nation should 
contribute, in every manner consistent with national dignity, to 
the permanent establishment of peace between all nations. 

The reform of our divorce laws, the final extirpation of poly- 
gamy, and the total overthrow of the present shameful system of 



112 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

the illegal sanction of the social evil, with its unspeakable traffic 
in girls, by the municipal authorities of almost all our cities. 

When the convention met there was a strong, but by no means 
unanimous, sentiment in favor of the nomination of General 
Nelson A. Miles for President. It was opposed on the ground 
that General Miles had never declared himself to be a Pro- 
hibitionist. It was discouraged by the general himself, who, 
knowing what was proposed, urged, in a letter to Mr. John G. 
Woolley, of Chicago, that action by the convention should be 
postponed until after the nominations by the Republican and 
Democratic parties should have been made. Some of his sug- 
gestions in the same letter as to the proper policy for the Pro- 
hibition party to adopt, were not well received. As the sug- 
gestions were not followed in the platform, General Miles sent 
a telegram positively declining to accept the nomination. The 
Miles candidacy had caused a somewhat angry factional con- 
troversy, which ended suddenly upon the receipt of the general's 
telegram, and Silas C. Swallow, of Pennsylvania, was then 
nominated for President by acclamation. There was but one 
vote by the convention, for Vice-President. George W. Carroll, 
of Texas, received 626 votes, to 132 for Isaiah H. Amos, of 
Oregon. The fact that the total number was greater than the 
number of delegates, has the usual explanation, that the dele- 
gates present from a State cast the whole number of votes to 
which the State was entitled. 

The Socialist-Labor party held its convention in New York 
City on July 2 and the six following days. Forty-one delegates, 
representing eighteen States, composed the convention. Mr. 
William W. Cox, of Illinois, was the temporary Chairman. 
Under the permanent organization there was a different Chair- 
man and vice-chairman on each day. There seem to have been 
long but not by any means angry debates upon a great variety 
of matters. The platform, which was reported late on July 3, 
was discussed, paragraph by paragraph, the next day, and finally 
adopted in the form given it by the Committee on Resolutions, 
as follows : — 

The Socialist Labor party of America, in convention assembled, 
reasserts the inalienable right of man to life, liberty and the pur- 
suit of happiness. 

We hold that the purpose of government is to secure to every 
citizen the enjoyment of this right : but taught by experience we 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 113 

hold furthermore that such right is illusory to the majority of the 
people, to wit, the working class, under the present system of 
economic inequality that is essentially destructive of their life, 
their liberty and their happiness. 

We hold that the true theory of politics is that the machinery of 
government must be controlled by the whole people ; but again 
taught by experience we hold furthermore that the true theory of 
economics is that the means of production must likewise be owned, 
operated and controlled by the people in common. Man cannot 
exercise his right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness with- 
out the ownership of the land on and the tool with which to work. 
Deprived of these, his life, his liberty and his fate fall into the hands 
of the class that owns those essentials for work and production. 

We hold that the existing contradiction between the theory of 
democratic government and the fact of a despotic economic system 
— the private ownership of the natural and social opportunities — 
divides the people into two classes, the capitalist class and the 
working class ; throws society into the convulsions of the class 
struggle, and perverts government to the exclusive benefit of the 
capitalist class. 

Thus labor is robbed of the wealth which it alone produces, is 
denied the means of self-employment, and, by compulsory idleness 
in wage slavery, is even deprived of the necessaries of life. 

Against such a system the Socialist Labor party raises the banner 
of revolt, and demands the unconditional surrender of the capital- 
ist class. 

The time is fast coming when, in the natural course of social 
evolution, this system, through the destructive action of its failures 
and crises on the one hand, and the constructive tendencies of its 
trusts and other capitalist combinations on the other hand, will 
have worked out its own downfall. 

We, therefore, call upon the wage workers of America to organ- 
ize under the banner of the Socialist Labor party into a class- 
conscious body, aware of its rights and determined to conquer them. 

And we also call upon all other intelligent citizens to place them- 
selves squarely upon the ground of working class interests, and 
join us in this mighty and noble work of human emancipation, so 
that we may put summary end to the existing barbarous class con- 
flict by placing the land and all the means of production, transpor- 
tation and distribution into the hands of the people as a collective 
body, and substituting the cooperative commonwealth for the 
present state of planless production, industrial war and social dis- 
order — a (commonwealth in which every worker shall have the 
free exercise and full benefit of his faculties, multiplied by all the 
modern facfowss <of civilization. 



114 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

On July 6 the convention nominated for President of the 
United States Charles H. Corregan, of New York ; for Vice- 
President, William W. Cox, of Illinois. It remained in session 
two days longer amending the constitution of the party and 
discussing the attitude which should be taken toward trade- 
unionism, — a subject which — as has been noted — occupied 
the attention of the rival Socialist party. The views of the 
Socialist-Labor party may fairly be inferred from a single 
paragraph of its pronouncement on the topic : " So far from 
drilling the working class in the theoretic understanding of its 
interests, Gompers unionism befogs the workingman's intellect 
with capitalistic economics, and it hounds Socialist or working 
class economics out of its camp, under the false pretence that 
such economic teachings are ' politics,' and that they ' divide 
the working class.' " 

The Populist party held its convention at Springfield, Illinois, 
on July 4 and 5. The date seems to have been fixed to signify 
the intention of those who controlled the organization to have 
nothing to do with the Democratic party in the approaching 
canvass. They saw, as the whole country saw, that the Demo- 
crats were about to rid themselves, for that occasion at least, 
of what a prominent member of the party referred to as " the 
taint of populism." Consequently the Populists who had not 
already joined the Democratic party were practically all of the 
" middle-of-the-road " faction. Only once in the convention 
was the suggestion made that it might be well to postpone 
action until it should be seen whether the Hearst partisans 
were not a majority of the Democratic delegates. But even that 
proposition was shouted down with cries — " No, no ; get into 
the Democratic party, where you belong." There was no hope 
of an alliance with that party. 

" About three hundred " delegates are said to have consti- 
tuted the Populist convention. Twenty-four States and two 
territories were represented on the general committees. That 
most of the members were residents in States of the central 
west is evident from the fact that the same person was ap- 
pointed a member of all four committees from each of the 
States of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Mississippi, 
Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Washington — in all probabil- 
ity because there was but one representative from each of 
those States. Pennsylvania had apparently two delegates in 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 115 

attendance. The one member from Massachusetts was the only 
New England man in the convention. L. H. Weller, of Iowa, 
was the temporary chairman, and J. M. Mallett, of Texas, the 
permanent President. The committee on resolutions held two 
protracted sessions, the first lasting until three o'clock in the 
morning of July 5, and the second nearly the whole of that 
day from early forenoon until late afternoon. The platform, 
when it was ready, was received with great applause and was 
unanimously adopted as follows : — 

The People's party reaffirms its adherence to the basic truths of 
the Omaha platform of 1892, and of the subsequent platforms 
of 1896 and 1900. In session in its fourth national convention on 
July 4, 1904, in the city of Springfield, 111., it draws inspiration 
from the day that saw the birth of the nation as well as its own 
birth as a party, and also from the soul of him who lived at its 
present place of meeting. We renew our allegiance to the old-fash- 
ioned American spirit that gave this nation existence, and made 
it distinctive among the peoples of the earth. We again sound the 
key-note of the Declaration of Independence that all men are cre- 
ated equal in a political sense, which was the sense in which that 
instrument, being a political document, intended that the utter- 
ance should be understood. W T e assert that the departure from this 
fundamental truth is responsible for the ills from which we suf- 
fer as a nation, that the giving of special privileges to the few has 
enabled them to dominate the many, thereby tending to destroy 
the political equality which is the corner-stone of democratic gov- 
ernment. 

Holding fast to the truths of the fathers we vigorously protest 
against the spirit of mammonism and of thinly veiled monarchy 
that is invading certain sections of our national life, and of the 
very administration itself. This is a nation of peace, and we 
deplore the appeal to the spirit of force and militarism which 
is shown in ill-advised and vainglorious boasting and in more 
harmful ways in the denial of the rights of man under martial 
law. 

A political democracy and an industrial despotism cannot exist 
side by side ; and nowhere is this truth more plainly shown than 
in the gigantic transportation monopolies which have bred all sorts 
of kindred trusts, subverted the governments of many of the 
States, or established their official agents in the National Govern- 
ment. We submit that it is better for the Government to own the 
railroads ihan for the railroads to own the Government, and that 
one or ihe other alternative seems inevitable. 

We .eajj tthe .attention of our fellow-citizens to the fact that the 



116 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

surrender of both of the old parties to corporative influences leaves 
the People's party the only party of reform in the nation. 

Therefore we submit the following platform of principles to the 
American people : — 

The issuing of money is a function of government, and should 
never be delegated to corporations or individuals. The Constitu- 
tion gives to Congress alone power to issue money and regulate its 
value. 

We therefore demand that all money shall be issued by the 
Government in such quantity as shall maintain a stability in prices, 
every dollar to be full legal tender, none of which shall be a debt 
redeemable in other money. 

We demand that postal savings banks be established by the 
Government for the safe deposit of the savings of the people. 

We believe in the right of labor to organize for the benefit and 
protection of those who toil ; and pledge the efforts of the People's 
party to preserve this right inviolate. Capital is organized and has 
no right to deny to labor the privilege which it claims for itself. 
We feel that intelligent organization of labor is essential ; that it 
raises the standard of workmanship ; promotes the efficiency, in- 
telligence, independence and character of the wage earner. We 
believe with Abraham Lincoln that labor is prior to capital, and 
is not its slave, but its companion, and we plead for that broad 
spirit of toleration and justice which will promote industrial peace 
through the observance of the principles of voluntary arbitration. 

We favor the enactment of legislation looking to the improve- 
ment of conditions for wage earners, the abolition of child labor, 
the suppression of sweat shops, and of convict labor in competi- 
tion with free labor, and the exclusion from American shores of 
foreign pauper labor. 

We favor the shorter work day, and declare that if eight hours 
constitute a day's labor in Government service, that eight hours 
should constitute a day's labor in factories, workshops and mines. 

As a means of placing all public questions directly under the 
control of the people, we demand that legal provision be made 
under which the people may exercise the initiative, referendum 
and proportional representation and direct vote for all public offi- 
cers with the right of recall. 

Land, including all the natural sources of wealth, is a heritage 
of all the people, and should not be monopolized for speculative 
purposes, and alien ownership of land should be prohibited. 

We demand a return to the original interpretation of the Con- 
stitution and a fair and impartial enforcement of laws under it, 
and denounce government by injunction and imprisonment with- 
out the right of trial by jury. 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 117 

To prevent unjust discrimination and monopoly the Govern- 
ment should own and control the railroads, and those public utili- 
ties which in their nature are monopolies. To perfect the postal 
service, the Government should own and operate the general tele- 
graph and telephone systems and provide a parcels post. 

As to these trusts and monopolies which are not public utilities 
or natural monopolies, we demand that those special privileges 
which they now enjoy, and which alone enables them to exist, 
should be immediately withdrawn. Corporations being the crea- 
tures of government should be subjected to such governmental 
regulations and control as will adequately protect the public. We 
demand the taxation of monopoly privileges, while they remain in 
private hands, to the extent of the value of the privileges granted. 

We demand that Congress shall enact a general law uniformly 
regulating the power and duties of all incorporated companies 
doing interstate business. 

Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia, who was Bryan's " running 
mate " on the Populist ticket, in 1896, was nominated for Pres- 
ident, and Thomas H. Tibbies, of Nebraska, was the candidate 
for Vice-President. 

The national convention of the Democratic party was held 
at Chicago on July 6 and the following days. The situation 
prior to the opening of the convention appeared to be chaotic, 
but appearances were deceitful. In fact the issue was at no 
time in doubt. The earnest opposition of Mr. Bryan to the 
nomination of Judge Parker has already been mentioned. He 
did not cease from that opposition. In a letter written a month 
before the convention, dated June 9, and immediately pub- 
lished, he wrote, among other things, " it is the first time, in 
recent years at least, that a man has been urged to so high a 
position on the ground that his opinions are unknown." On the 
20th of June he made a speech to a great gathering in New 
York City, in which he attacked the candidacy of Judge 
Parker most vehemently, and in a graphic and eloquent man- 
ner enumerated the issues of the time on which the opinions 
of Mr. Parker had not been announced, — coinage, imperial- 
ism, tariff, the trusts, and other live political topics. If he did 
not express his hope in so many words he allowed the " inter- 
viewers " of the press who thronged about him to understand 
that his policy would be to persuade the convention to frame 
such a platform that Judge Parker would refuse to stand on it. 
The opposition of Tammany Hall to Parker was open and pro- 
nounced. Whether that organization, with a prospect of sue- 



118 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

cess before it, would have favored the nomination of Mr. 
Hearst, is purely a matter of conjecture. At all events the os- 
tensible purpose of Tammany was to urge the selection of 
Mayor George B. McClellan. 

jSTor was this the only opposition — outspoken or secret — 
that the movement against Parker encountered. The friends of 
Senator Gorman, of Maryland, who undoubtedly sympathized 
with the movement to eliminate radicalism from the party, 
endeavored with little success to promote his candidacy. The 
proceedings in the selection of delegates in Illinois were little 
short of riotous, and led to a contest for the seats which was 
carried into the convention and decided by a roll-call vote. In 
several of the States propositions to endorse the candidacy of 
Judge Parker were decisively defeated. 

In spite of all this the friends of Parker were confident. 
The canvass in his favor was in the expert hands of Governor 
David B. Hill, whose leadership and control were plainly evi- 
dent to observers of the events just preceding the opening of 
the session. Those who had drawn " planks " for the platform 
consulted him, and were hopeful or disappointed according to 
his treatment of them. Although hardly more than a third of 
the delegates were " instructed" for Parker, he assured all 
comers that the nomination of his candidate was certain. 

John Sharp Williams, of Mississippi, was the temporary 
chairman, and Champ Clark, of Missouri, the permanent pres- 
ident of the convention. The first important business was to 
determine the right of delegates to seats. The committee on 
credentials reported in favor of the Parker delegates from the 
contested districts of Illinois. There was a minority report, in 
favor of the Hearst delegates, and Mr. Bryan argued at length 
in support of their rights. He was received with general and 
enthusiastic applause when he entered the convention and be- 
gan his speech ; but when the question was put to vote he was 
defeated by 299 to 647. That was the first test vote in the 
convention and it indicated the ultimate result. More than two- 
thirds of the convention was against Mr. Bryan. The decision 
was of no practical importance, as the Illinois State Conven- 
tion had directed the delegation to cast its vote as a unit for 
Mr. Hearst, and its vote was so given. But the test vote indi- 
cated clearly the temper of the convention. 

There was an almost unprecedented struggle in the framing 
of the platform by the Committee on Resolutions. Indeed that 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 119 

committee was a most remarkable one in the political pro- 
minence of a large number of its members. Besides Governor 
Hill and Mr. Bryan, the membership included Senators Bailey, 
Carmack, Daniel, Dubois, Newlands, and Tillman, ex-Senators 
H. G. Davis, of West Virginia, and Pettigrew, and John S. 
Williams, the Democratic leader in the House of Representa- 
tives, as well as many other men of great prominence in their 
respective States. A subcommittee was appointed which con- 
sidered at great length a draft of a platform which had been 
prepared, and finally reported the result of its deliberations to 
the fuTl committee. The tentative platform contained a para- 
graph setting forth that as there had been in reeent years an 
enormous increase in the production of gold, of which the 
United States had obtained a large share, the question of the 
monetary standard had ceased to be a political issue. The 
"plank" was extremely offensive to Mr. Bryan, who desired 
and moved that the declaration of the two preceding national 
conventions on the subject of silver be repeated. In that mat- 
ter he had no support ; but he did argue most strenuously 
against the adoption of the " gold plank." He also wished to 
have included in the platform a declaration in favor of an in- 
come tax, but in this he was stoutly opposed by Governor 
Hill. At last the proposition was made that both the gold plank 
and the income tax plank be omitted. The committee voted — 
35 to 15 — to drop the reference to gold, and to make no de- 
claration whatever on the question of a money standard. Mr. 
Bryan then withdrew his income tax proposition, and the plat- 
form was ready to be reported. The committee had been in 
continuous session for sixteen hours — from eight o'clock in 
the evening of Thursday, July 7, until nearly noon of Friday. 
When the convention assembled on Friday evening, at 8 
o'clock, the platform was read and unanimously adopted. Sen- 
ator Daniel, of Virginia, who reported it, laid particular stress 
upon the fact that the committee also was unanimous. The 
platform was as follows : — 

The Democratic party of the United States, in national conven- 
tion assembled, declares its devotion to the essential principles of 
the Democratic faith which brings us together in party communion. 

Under them, local self-government and national unity and pro- 
sperity were alike established. They underlaid our independence, 
the structure of our free Republic, and every Democratic extension 
from Louisiana to California and Texas to Oregon, which pre- 



120 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

served faithfully in all the States the tie between taxation and 
representation. They yet inspire the masses of our people, guard- 
ing jealously their rights and liberties and cherishing their fra- 
ternity, peace and orderly development. 

They remind us of our duties and responsibilities as citizens, 
and impress upon us, particularly at this time, the necessity of re- 
form and the rescue of the administration of government from 
the headstrong, arbitrary and spasmodic methods which distract 
business by uncertainty, and pervade the public mind with dread, 
distrust and perturbation. 

Wherever there may exist a people incapable of being governed 
under American laws, in consonance with the American Constitu- 
tion, the territory of that people ought not to be part of the Amer- 
ican domain. We insist that we ought to do for the Filipinos 
what we have already done for the Cubans, and it is our duty to 
make that promise now, and upon suitable guarantees of protec- 
tion to citizens of our own and other countries resident there at 
the time of our withdrawal, set the Filipino people upon their 
feet free and independent to work out their own destiny. 

The endeavor of the Secretary of War by pledging the govern- 
ment's indorsement for " promoters " in the Philippine Islands to 
make the United States a partner in speculative legislation of the 
archipelago, which was only temporarily held up by the opposi- 
tion of the Democratic Senators in the last session, will, if success- 
ful, lead to entanglements from which it will be difficult to escape. 

The Democratic party has been and will continue to be the con- 
sistent opponent of that class of tariff legislation by which certain 
interests have been permitted through Congressional favor to draw 
heavy tribute from the American people. This monstrous perver- 
sion of those equal opportunities which our political institutions 
were established to secure, has caused what may once have been 
infant industries to become the greatest combinations of capital 
that the world has ever known. These especial favorites of the 
government have, through trust methods, been converted into mo- 
nopolies, thus bringing to an end domestic competition which was 
the only alleged check upon the extravagant profits made possible 
by the protective system. These industrial combinations by the 
financial assistance they can give, now control the policy of the 
Republican party. We denounce protection as a robbery of the 
many to enrich the few and we favor a tariff limited to the needs 
of the government, economically administered and so levied as 
not to discriminate against any industry, class or section, to the 
end that the burdens of taxation shall be distributed as equally as 
possible. 

We favor a revision and a gradual reduction of the tariff by the 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 121 

friends of the masses and for the common weal, and not by the 
friends of its abuses, its extortions and its discriminations, keep- 
ing in view the ultimate ends of " equality of burdens and equality 
of opportunities " and the constitutional purpose of raising a reve- 
nue by taxation — to wit, the support of the federal government 
in all its integrity and virility, but in simplicity. 

We recognize that the gigantic trusts and combinations designed 
to enable capital to secure more than its just share of the joint 
products of capital and labor, and which have been fostered and 
promoted under Republican rule, are a menace to beneficial com- 
petition and an obstacle to permanent business prosperity. A pri- 
vate monopoly is indefensible and intolerable. Individual equality 
of opportunity and free competition are essential to a healthy and 
permanent commercial prosperity, and any trust, combination or 
monopoly tending to destroy these, by controlling production, re- 
stricting competition or fixing prices should be prohibited and 
punished by law. We especially denounce rebates and discrimina- 
tion by transportation companies. 

As the most potent agency in promoting and strengthening these 
unlawful conspiracies against trade, we demand an enlargement 
of the powers of the Interstate Commission to the end that the 
travelling public and shippers of this country may have prompt 
and adequate relief for the abuses to which they are subjected in 
the matter of transportation. We demand a strict enforcement of 
existing civil and criminal statutes against all such trusts, combi- 
nations and monopolies, and we demand the enactment of such 
further legislation as may be necessary to effectually suppress them. 

Any trust or unlawful combination engaged in interstate com- 
merce which is monopolizing any branch of business or production 
should not be permitted to transact business outside of the State 
of its origin. Whenever it shall be established in any court of 
competent jurisdiction that such monopolization exists, such 
prohibition should be enforced through comprehensive laws to be 
enacted on the subject. 

We congratulate our Western citizens upon the passage of the 
Newlands irrigation act for the irrigation and reclamation of the 
arid lands at the West, a measure framed by a Democrat, passed 
in the Senate by a non-partisan vote and passed in the House 
against the opposition of almost all the Republican leaders by a 
vote the majority of which was Democratic. 

We call attention to this great Democratic measure, broad and 
comprehensive as it is, working automatically throughout all time, 
without further action of Congress, until the reclamation of all 
the land in the arid West capable of reclamation is accomplished, 
reserving the lands reclaimed for homeseekers in small tracts, and 



122 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

rigidly guarding against land monopoly, as an evidence of the 
policy of domestic development contemplated by the Democratic 
party should it be placed in power. 

The Democracy when intrusted with power will construct the 
Panama Canal speedily, honestly and economically, thereby giv- 
ing to our people what Democrats have always contended for — 
a great interoceanic canal, furnishing shorter and cheaper lines of 
transportation and broader and less trammelled trade relations 
with the other peoples of the world. 

We pledge ourselves to insist upon the just and lawful protection 
of our citizens at home and abroad, and to use all proper measures 
to secure for them, whether native-born or naturalized, and with- 
out distinction of race or creed, the equal protection of laws and 
the enjoyment of all rights and privileges open to them under the 
covenants of our treaties of friendship and commerce ; and if under 
existing treaties the right of travel and sojourn is denied to Amer- 
ican citizens, or recognition is withheld from American passports 
by any countries on the ground of race or creed, we favor the be- 
ginning of negotiations with the governments of such countries to 
secure by new treaties the removal of these unjust discriminations. 
We demand that all over the world a duly authenticated passport 
issued by the Government of the United States to an American 
citizen shall be proof of the fact that he is an American citizen 
and shall entitle him to the treatment due him as such. 

We favor the election of United States Senators by the direct 
vote of the people. 

• We favor the admission of the territory of Oklahoma and the 
Indian Territory. We also favor the immediate admission of Ari- 
zona and New Mexico as separate States, and a territorial govern- 
ment for Alaska and Porto Rico. We hold that the officials 
appointed to administer the government of any territory as well as 
the District of Alaska should be bona fide residents at the time of 
their appointment of the Territory or District in which their 
duties are to be performed. 

We demand the extermination of polygamy within the jurisdic- 
tion of the United States and the complete separation of church 
and state in political affairs. 

We denounce the ship subsidy bill recently passed by the United 
States Senate as an iniquitous appropriation of public funds for 
private purposes and a wasteful, illogical and useless attempt to 
overcome by subsidy the obstructions raised by Republican legis- 
lation to the growth and development of American commerce on 
the sea. We 1 favor the upbuilding of a merchant marine without 
new or additional burdens upon the people and without bounties 
from the public treasury. 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 123 

We favor liberal trade arrangements with Canada and with 
peoples of other countries where they can be entered into with 
benefit to American agriculture, manufactures, mining or com- 
merce. 

We favor the maintenance of the Monroe Doctrine in its full 
integrity. 

We favor the reduction of the army and of army expenditure to 
a point historically demonstrated to be safe and sufficient. 

The Democracy would secure to the surviving soldiers and sailors 
and their dependents generous pensions, not by an arbitrary ex- 
ecutive order, but by legislation which a grateful people stand 
ready to enact. 

Our soldiers and sailors who defend with their lives the Consti- 
tution and the laws have a sacred interest in their just administra- 
tion. They must therefore share with us the humiliation with 
which we have witnessed the exaltation of court favorites, with- 
out distinguished service, over the scarred heroes of many bat- 
tles, of their aggrandizement by executive appropriation out of 
the treasuries of a prostrate people in violation of the act of Con- 
gress which fixed the compensation of allowances of the military 
officers. 

The Democratic party stands committed to the principles of 
Civil Service Reform, and we demand their honest, just and im- 
partial enforcement. We denounce the Republican party for its 
continued and sinister encroachments upon the spirit and opera- 
tion of Civil Service rules, whereby it has arbitrarily dispensed 
with examinations for office in the interests of favorites and em- 
ployed all manner of devices to overreach and set aside the prin- 
ciples upon which Civil Service was established. 

The race question has brought countless woes to this country. 
The calm wisdom of the American people should see to it that it 
brings no more. 

To revive the dead and hateful race and sectional animosities in 
any part of our common country means confusion, distraction of 
business and the reopening of wounds now happily healed. 

North and South, East and West have but recently stood to- 
gether in line of battle from the walls of Peking to the hills of 
Santiago, and as sharers of a common glory and a common destiny 
we should share fraternally the common burdens. 

We therefore deprecate and condemn the Bourbonlike, selfish 
and narrow spirit of the recent Republican Convention at Chicago, 
which sought to kindle anew the embers of racial and sectional 
strife, and we appeal from it to the sober common sense and spirit 
of the American people. 

The existing Republican Administration has been spasmodic, 



124 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

erratic, sensational, spectacular and arbitrary. It has made itself a 
satire upon the Congress, the courts and upon the settled practices 
and usages of national and international law. 

It summoned the Congress into hasty and futile extra session 
and virtually adjourned it, leaving behind its flight from Wash- 
ington uncalled calendars and unaccomplished tasks. 

It made war, which is the sole power of Congress, without its 
authority, thereby usurping one of its fundamental prerogatives. 

It violated a plain statute of the United States, as well as plain 
treaty obligations, international usages and constitutional law, and 
has done so under pretence of executing a great public policy which 
could have been more easily effected lawfully, constitutionally and 
with honor. 

It forced strained and unnatural constructions upon statutes, 
usurping judicial interpretation and substituting Congressional 
enactment. 

It withdrew from Congress their customary duties of investiga- 
tion which have heretofore made the representatives of the people 
and the States the terror of evildoers. 

It conducted a secretive investigation of its own and boasted of 
a few sample convictions, while it threw a broad coverlet over the 
bureaus which had been their chosen field of operative abuses and 
kept in power the superior officers under whose administration the 
crimes had been committed. 

It ordered assaults upon some monopolies, but, paralyzed by its 
first victory, it flung out the flag of truce and cried out that it 
would not " run amuck," leaving its future purposes beclouded by 
its vacillations. 

Conducting the campaign upon this declaration of our principles 
and purposes, we invoke for our candidates the support, not only 
of our great and time-honored organization, but also the active 
assistance of all of our fellow citizens, who, disregarding past dif- 
ferences, desire the perpetuation of our constitutional government 
as framed and established by the fathers of the Republic. 

The nomination of candidates was now in order. The 
speeches presenting the merits of " favorite sons " and the sec- 
onding speeches numbered more than thirty, and the whole 
night was occupied in the preliminaries of the vote. When the 
roll was finally called the result was : — 

Alton B. Parker, of New York 658 

William R. Hearst, of New York 200 

Francis M. Cockrell, of Missouri 42 

Richard Olney, of Massachusetts 38 

Edward C. Wall, of Wisconsin 27 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 125 

George Gray, of Delaware 12 

John S. Williams, of Mississippi 5 

Robert E. Pattison, of Pennsylvania 4 

George B. McClellan, of New York 3 

Nelson A. Miles, of Massachusetts 3 

Charles A. Towne, of Minnesota 2 

Arthur P. Gorman, of Maryland 2 

Bird S. Coler, of New York 1 

The whole number of votes was exactly 1000, and 667 (two- 
thirds) were necessary for a choice. Before the result was de- 
clared 19 Hearst votes, and 2 for Senator Gorman were trans- 
ferred to Parker, giving him 689, and the nomination. The 
convention then, — at 5. 50 a.m., on the morning of Saturday, 
having been in session ten hours, adjourned until the afternoon. 
Before that time an unprecedented incident had occurred, the 
particulars of which were known to only a few of the leaders. 
It was of such a nature that a hurried adjournment until the 
late afternoon was ordered. Upon reassembling the convention 
was not at first informed what had taken place, and the presenta- 
tion of candidates for Vice-President proceeded. When the 
roll had been called a delegate from Texas suggested that " we 
ought not to nominate a candidate for Vice-President at this 
time. . . . We want to know, before a candidate for Vice- 
President is nominated, who will be the nominee of this con- 
vention for President." No further explanation was given, but 
probably by this time most of the delegates knew the meaning 
of Mr. Culberson's surprising statement. A recess of an hour 
and a half was ordered, and the convention reassembled at 
8:30 p.m. 

What had occurred was that during the early part of the day 
one of the New York delegates had received from Judge 
Parker a telegram in the following terms : — 

I regard the gold standard as firmly and irrevocably established, 
and shall act accordingly if the action of the convention to-day 
shall be ratified by the people. As the platform is silent on the 
subject, my view should be made known to the convention, and if 
it is proved to be unsatisfactory to the majority, I request you to 
decline the nomination for me at once, so that another may be 
nominated before adjournment. 

Although there were cries of "Oh, no! " when the first dele- 
gate who referred to the incident said that the despatch had 
" spread consternation throughout this convention," the re- 



126 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

mark was justified. Possibly it derived a part of its truth from 
the fact that a false version of the telegram was published in 
an evening paper — a version which made Judge Parker de- 
clare that he could not accept a nomination unless a plank 
recognizing the existence by law of the gold standard were in- 
serted in the platform. It was proposed to send to Judge Par- 
ker, in the name of the convention, the following reply: — 

The platform adopted by this convention is silent on the question 
of a monetary standard because it is not regarded by us as a possi- 
ble issue in this campaign, and only campaign issues were men- 
tioned in the platform. Therefore, there is nothing in the views 
expressed by you in the telegram just received which would pre- 
clude a man entertaining them from accepting a nomination on 
said platform. 

Upon a motion to that effect a long and at times acrimonious 
debate ensued. Some of those who urged the sending of a re- 
ply characterized Judge Parker's action as "injudicious" and 
" unnecessary, " but they maintained that the motive was a 
high sense of honor, and an unwillingness that his opinions 
should be misunderstood. They said that every one knew, in 
voting for Parker, that he was a u gold man " ; but this last 
statement was warmly disputed. Mr. Bryan strongly opposed 
the sending of the telegram. He maintained that if the con- 
vention was willing, by so doing,' to recognize the gold stand- 
ard, it should do so openly and in a manly way, in the plat- 
form. When the debate closed the convention voted, 794 to 
191, that the reply above printed should be sent. The majority 
would have been somewhat smaller, though still overwhelming, 
if the votes of many delegations had not been given under the 
unit rule. This fact was made clear by the announcement of 
the vote by the chairman of seven or eight delegations. 

The convention now proceeded to finish its business by 
nominating a candidate for Vice-President. The result of the 
first and only vote was as follows : — 

Whole number of votes 977 

Necessary for a choice (two thirds of the whole con- 
vention) 667 

Henry G. Davis, of West Virginia 654 

James R. Williams, of Illinois 165 

George Turner, of Washington 100 

William A. Harris, of Kansas 58 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 127 

It was then voted to make the nomination unanimous, and 
after the appointment of the usual committees the Convention 
came to an end at 1.30 a.m. on Sunday, July 10. 

A meeting of colored men, who called themselves the Na- 
tional Liberty party, was held at St. Louis on July 7. No re- 
cord of its proceedings has been discovered, save that it nom- 
inated for President George E. Taylor, of Iowa, and adopted 
the following platform : — 

We, the delegates of the National Liberty party of the United 
States, in convention assembled, declare our unalterable faith in 
the essential doctrine of human liberty, the fatherhood of God and 
the brotherhood of man. 

Under no other doctrine can the people of this or any other 
country stand together in good friendship and perfect union. 
Equal liberty is the first concession that a republican form of gov- 
ernment concedes to its people, and universal brotherhood is the 
cementing tie which binds a people to respect the laws. 

It has always been so where caste existed and was recognized by 
law or by common consent, that the oppression of the weaker by 
the stronger has attained and a degree of human slavery been real- 
ized. Such a condition of affairs must necessarily exist where uni- 
versal suffrage is not maintained and respected, and where one 
man considers that by nature he was born and by nature dies bet- 
ter than another. 

The application of the fundamental principles of the rights of 
men is always the paramount issue before a people, and when they 
are strictly adhered to there is no disturbing element to the peace, 
prosperity, or to the great industrial body politic of the country. 

We believe in the supremacy of the civil as against the military 
law, when and where the civil is respected. But when the civil law 
has been outraged and wrested from the hands of authority it 
should be understood that military law may be temporarily insti- 
tuted. 

Law and order should take the place of lynching and mob vio- 
lence, and polygamy should not survive, but polygamy is more tol- 
erable than lynching, and we regret that a great national party 
could overlook lynching, and yet denounce polygamy. 

Citizens of a democracy should be non-partisans, always casting 
their votes for the safety of their country and for their best inter- 
ests, individually and collectively. 

The right of any American citizen to support any measure instead 
of party should not be questioned, and when men conform them- 
selves to party instead of principles they become party slaves. 
There were 2,500,000 such slaves among our colored population in 



128 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

1900, all voting strictly to party lines, regardless of their material 
welfare. We are satisfied that they did not serve their best inter- 
est in that section of the country in which the greater number of 
them live by doing so. 

These being our thoughts and ideas of how the Government's 
affairs should be conducted, we most respectfully submit them to 
all liberty-loving and Christian-hearted people, that they may act 
upon them in a spirit of justice and equity, " with good will to all, 
malice toward none." 

We ask for universal suffrage, or qualification which does not 
discriminate against any reputable citizen on account of color or 
condition. 

We ask that the Federal Government enforce its guarantee to 
protect its citizens, and secure for them every right given under 
the Constitution of the United States, wherever and whenever it is 
necessary. 

We appeal to all forms of Catholic and Protestant religions to 
assist us to awaken the Christian consciences of all classes of the 
American people, private citizens and officers, to wipe out the 
greatest shame known to civilized nations of the world, whose very 
root seems to have planted in this, one of the most proud of all 
nations of its civilization — " lynch law," the pregnator of anarch- 
ism, the most dangerous system to revolutionize our Republic. 

We ask that the national laws be so remedied as to give any cit- 
izen, being next of kin, the right to demand an indemnity of the 
National Government for the taking of life or the injuring of any 
citizen other than by due process of law. And that where the pro- 
perty of a citizen is wilfully destroyed by a mob, the Federal Gov- 
ernment shall be held to make restitution to the injured parties. 

We demand an increase of the regular army, making six negro 
regiments instead of four, and an equal chance to colored soldiers 
to become line officers. 

We favor the adjustment of all grievances between the wage 
earner and the capitalist by equitable resources without injustice 
to either or by methods of coercion. 

We firmly protest against interference of the Government in the 
Orient until paramount political issues of the races, capital and 
labor are settled and settled right at home. 

We firmly believe that the ex-slaves, who served the country for 
246 years, filling the lap of the nation with wealth by their labor, 
should be pensioned from the overflowing treasury of the country 
to which they are and have been loyal, both on land and sea, as 
provided in the bill introduced in the Senate of the United States 
by Senator Hanna, of the State of Ohio. 

We ask that the general Government own and control all public 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 129 

carriers in the United States, so that the citizens of the United 
States could not be denied equal accommodations where they pay 
with the same lawful money provided by the Government as a cir- 
culating medium and as a legal tender for all obligations. 

The people of the District of Columbia, the capital of the nation, 
should be given the right to participate in the selection of Presi- 
dent and Vice-President of the United States, and should be al- 
lowed representation in the two branches of Congress, and the 
election of a Governor, Mayor, City Council, and such other offi- 
cers as are necessary for the proper government of the District of 
Columbia. We indorse the Gallagher resolution looking to the es- 
tablishment of self-government of the District of Columbia. 

The last convention of the canvass was that of the " Con- 
tinental " party, which was held at Chicago on August 31. Its 
avowed object was " to unite the disaffected of all parties." In 
personnel it was almost if not quite local in character ; for 
although it was reported that letters had been received from 
twenty-seven States asking that proxies be appointed for them, 
it is believed that all of the thirty-four persons who served as 
" delegates" were residents of Chicago, or of its immediate 
vicinity. The chairman was Dr. J. P. Lynch, of Illinois. The 
convention nominated for President Charles H. Howard, of 
Illinois, and for Vice-President George H. Shirley, of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. Both of those gentlemen declined and the 
National Committee substituted as candidates Austin H. Hol- 
comb, of Georgia, for President, and A. King, of Missouri, for 
Vice-President. It does not appear that an electoral ticket was 
proposed in any State. The platform adopted was as follows : 

The Continental party of the United States, in first national con- 
vention assembled, in the city of Chicago, August 31, 1904, an- 
nounces the following platform of principles : 

The objects and ends of the Continental party, as set forth in its 
charter, are : " To enlist the cooperation of legal voters through- 
out the United States in earnest and honorable efforts to repeal un- 
just laws in every branch of government, and, in their stead, to 
secure the enactment and enforcement of other laws better adapted 
to ' establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, promote the gen- 
eral welfare,' and secure the election or appointment to office of 
honest and capable men." 

The questions pertaining to money, the tariff, transportation, 
trusts and corporations, the race problem, the labor problem, are 
preeminently live issues, which can never be permanently settled 
until they are settled right. 



130 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Without referring to our trade relations with nations of the 
Eastern Continent, we declare our adherence to the principles of 
reciprocity advocated by that eminent statesman, James G. Blaine, 
as applied to Canada and all American republics. To this end we 
favor such Congressional action as shall initiate a movement in- 
tended to bring about reciprocity to its fullest extent with the en- 
tire American Continent. In the language of Mr. Blaine : " There 
is room for but one commercial flag between Cape Horn and the 
North Pole." 

We believe that the money question is far from being settled, 
and that it involves not only the gold standard, but the far greater 
question, namely, Who shall issue and control the paper currency 
of the nation — the Government or the banks ? He who controls 
the money of a country controls the government of that country. 
We believe that the money trust is the mother of all other trusts ; 
that it is international in its scope ; that it has duplicate head- 
quarters — London and New York ; that its power exceeds, in many 
particulars, the power of the Government itself ; that it controls 
legislation by controlling the political party in power ; that through 
its agents it secured the nomination of the Presidential candidates 
of both the Republican and Democratic parties and dictated the 
main planks of their national platforms. We believe that it is this 
subserviency of the two leading political parties of this country to 
the money trust that is fast placing the wealth of the country into 
the hands of a few individuals, reducing to penury and want mil- 
lions of the laboring and middle classes and establishing in this 
land of former freedom a plutocracy which threatens to be more 
arbitrary in its demands than any monarchy of the Old World. 
" To coin money and regulate the value thereof " is a function of 
the National Government, which the Constitution has denied to the 
States, but which the Republican party has delegated, in part, to 
corporations. 

As a check to the encroachments of the money power we advo- 
cate the following demands : — 

The act authorizing national banks to issue notes of credit should 
be repealed. All money of every description should be issued by the 
general Government, and be equal in value, dollar for dollar. 

Postal banks for deposit and check should be established — one 
in every city, county-town and village, the surplus funds thus ac- 
cruing to be loaned to the people at interest not exceeding 3 per 
cent per annum. 

The one hundred and twelve million dollars Government funds 
deposited in banks should be withdrawn and loaned to the several 
States on deposit of State bonds. 

Constantly recurring accidents on all lines of railroad, causing 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 131 

great loss of life and the crippling and mangling of hundreds of 
passengers, demand the most searching investigation and prompt 
and efficient legal remedies whereby railroads shall be operated for 
the safety and convenience of the public, rather than for the pur- 
pose of declaring the usual dividend on watered stock. During the 
year 1901 the railroads of England, which are owned and operated 
by the Government, transported an immense number of passengers 
without a single fatality. In this country a person virtually takes 
his life in his hand when he steps aboard a train of cars. We be- 
lieve that the fatalities of railroad travel in the United States can 
be traced directly to the employment of cheap and careless em- 
ployes, the overworking of engineers and conductors, and the 
neglect to take proper precautions against accidents, with a view 
to " cut down operating expenses," and thus enable railroad officials 
to declare the usual dividends to stockholders. As a remedy for 
such abuses we demand the prosecution for manslaughter of 
the principal officers of a railroad company on whose line the death 
of a passenger shall be traced directly to the carelessness or in- 
competency of their employes, or to their incapacity caused by long 
hours of continuous labor. 

To give work to the unemployed, furnish cheaper and more equit- 
able rates of transportation, insure the safety and convenience of 
the travelling public, and test the practicability of government 
ownership of railroads, the United States Government should at 
once proceed to construct, equip and operate one or more lines of 
four-track railway, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, 
and one or more similar lines from the Gulf of Mexico to points 
near our northern boundary. 

We believe in the right of labor to organize for the benefit and 
protection of those who toil. Capital is organized, and has no right 
to deny labor the privilege which it claims for itself. Intelligent 
organization of labor is demanded to preserve the rights of the 
laborer. It raises the standard of workmanship and promotes the 
efficiency, intelligence, independence and character of the wage 
earner. We believe with Abraham Lincoln that labor is prior to capi- 
tal andis not its slave, but its companion, and we plead for that broad 
spirit of tolerance and justice which will promote industrial peace 
through the observance of just principles of arbitration. We favor 
the enactment of legislation looking to the improvement in con- 
ditions for wage earners, the abolition of child labor, the suppres- 
sion of sweat-shops and of convict labor in competition with free 
labor, and the exclusion from American shores of foreign pauper 
labor and Asiatic labor of every nationality. W"e favor the shorter 
workday, and declare that eight hours shall constitute the maxi- 
mum workday in all manufacturing establishments, workshops, 



132 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

mines and all other industrial establishments, and that where great 
skill and responsibility are required of an employe, as in the case 
of railroad engineers, train despatchers, steamboat employes, etc., 
no person should be continuously employed more than six hours 
of the twenty-four. 

All railroad and other corporations doing business in two or 
more States should be chartered by Congress, and then only after a 
close scrutiny of their capitalization, a strict investigation reveal- 
ing their intentions, and a most guarded restriction of their powers 
and operations. The creating of " corners " and the establishing 
of exorbitant prices for products necessary to human existence 
should be made a criminal offence against the officers, directors 
and stockholders of a corporation so offending, subjecting them to 
severest penalties. A man is no less a robber because he is able to 
hold up his victim by due process of law. 

The Philippines, the same as Cuba, should be guaranteed ulti- 
mate independence and a stable government under the protection 
of the United States. 

The Congressional district, instead of the State, should be 
made the unit in the Electoral College, apportioning to each dis- 
trict one Presidential elector, to be chosen by the voters of that 
district. 

We demand such legislation as will place the burdens of gov- 
ernment upon that class of people who have been most favored by 
special acts of government, and to this end we favor a graduated 
property tax, exempting from its provisions property of the indi- 
vidual to the amount of $10,000 or less. We also demand that a 10 
per cent tax be levied annually upon all unoccupied and unim- 
proved land. 

We demand the enactment by the several States of a primary 
election law, by which all candidates for public office shall be se- 
lected by direct vote of the people, without the aid of a delegate 
convention. We denounce government by the gavel in party con- 
ventions, and demand the elimination of the party " boss " from 
party politics, by whatever method it can be brought about. 

The election laws of the several States should be changed, by 
constitutional amendment when necessary, so as to provide for 
direct legislation by the method known as the initiative and re- 
ferendum. 

Each State should possess the sole right to determine by legis- 
lation the qualifications required of voters within its jurisdiction, 
irrespective of race, color or sex. 

The Constitution of the United States should be revised and 
amended in accordance with the method provided in Article V., 
that our fundamental law may answer the demands of a century 
of civilization and progress. 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 133 

Believing our demands to be practicable and just, we appeal to 
all who believe in majority rule, to all who are weary of Standard 
Oil government, to all who are opposed to gavel government in 
party politics, and to all others who desire the welfare of all the 
people, to unite with us in advocating the principles herein enunci- 
ated until they shall be enacted into laws for the government of 
this Republic — a Republic founded by Washington and Jefferson 
and the Continental Congress, and first defended and protected 
by the Continental Army of the United States. 

The canvass that ensued w T as spiritless almost beyond pre- 
cedent ; and although there were the usual optimistic claims on 
the part of the Democrats, and the customary real or simu- 
lated fears on the part of the Republicans, the result was at 
no time doubtful. The policy of the Democrats turned out to 
be a mistake at every point. Mr. Bryan, who was indisputably 
the leader of the faction which was for the moment thrust into 
the background, " supported the ticket," but he did so in such 
a half-hearted manner that his support was no help to the party. 
Immediately after the close of the convention he expressed his 
real opinion by saying that little could be hoped from a Demo- 
cratic victory so long as the party was "under the control of 
the Wall-Street element." Judge Parker's nomination, he re- 
marked, " virtually nullifies the anti-trust plank" of the plat- 
form; and the labor plank was " straddling and meaningless." 
He found enough in Judge Parker to "justify me in giving 
him my vote but," — and so forth. He announced his purpose, 
as soon as the election should be over " to marshal the friends 
of popular government within the Democratic party to the sup- 
port of a radical and progressive policy." 

Such language as that could not inspire the earnest men who 
still looked to him as their " peerless leader" to exert them- 
selves greatly in favor of the ticket. They did not. Many of 
them came out openly in support of Mr. Roosevelt whom, by 
instinct, they felt to be more favorable to " a radical and pro- 
gressive policy " than was Judge Parker. In still larger num- 
bers they outwardly preserved their regularity as party men by 
maintaining silence ; but they were determined to vote against 
Parker, and when the day of election came they did so. The 
great increase of the Socialist and independent Populist vote in 
November is to be explained, not by the growth of these par- 
ties but by the revolt of radicals against the new policy of the 
Democratic party. The magnitude of that revolt is made still 



134 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

more impressive when we take account of the attitude of the 
Gold Democrats who returned to their allegiance on the elimina- 
tion of Mr. Bryan and the silver agitation, and of the smaller but 
not altogether insignificant number of Republicans who were 
estranged from Mr. Roosevelt by reason of his progressive 
radicalism. 

One of the delegates to the Democratic convention, a senator 
of the United States, said in reference to the platform, " we 
have adopted a document but not a policy." Therein lay the 
second mistake. The tariff, in 1892 ; silver at 16 to 1, in 1896 ; 
imperialism, in 1900, had been " paramount " issues. In 1904 
there was no real issue. There were the remnants of old con- 
troversies, on every one of which the Democrats had been de- 
feated, but on all of them the party was timid. It reasserted 
its position on some of them in cautious language, hoping to 
win back erring brethren, but it said nothing to rally those who 
had fought its recent battles, nothing that attracted recruits 
from the opposing line. The orators had nothing to talk about 
except the sins of the Republican party, and the sins they cited 
did not seem enormous to those who had previously supported 
the party. Silver, as an issue, was dead. Mr. Williams, of Mis- 
sissippi, in the final debate in the Democratic convention, on 
the reply to be given to Judge Parker's telegram, challenged 
any member of the body to express the opinion that silver 
would be an issue in the campaign, and no one responded. " Im- 
perialism," too, did not alarm the people ; and the country was 
still so prosperous under — which does not necessarily mean 
because of — the Dingley tariff, that it was not a favorable 
issue to arouse votes against the administration. So the speak- 
ing campaign was listless — of course on both sides — for aside 
from an attack on the financial extravagance alleged against 
the Republicans, there was little to defend. 

It must be said also that the Democrats were unfortunate in 
their candidates. It was almost universally admitted that it was 
a mistake to nominate for the vice-presidency a man in his 
eighty-second year. Otherwise there was no objection urged, or 
possible, against Mr. Davis. Nor was there any objection pos- 
sible against Judge Parker on the ground of his personal honor 
and integrity, or of his sincerity, or of his patriotism. But he 
was unknown, and his long-time judicial aloofness had made 
him incapable, by disuse of the faculty, of making himself 
known and popular. At first he determined not to make any 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 135 

speeches except to those who might call upon him at his open 
porch in Esopus. But when the canvass dragged his advisers 
counselled him to abandon that determination. He did accord- 
ingly hold meetings and address the voters in New York and 
the near-by States, but again his lack of practice in the art of 
popular oratory was a disadvantage. He could not arouse en- 
thusiasm, and his excursions into the field of national finance, 
and his treatment of the trust question, gave the journals and 
the orators on the other side opportunities to question his 
knowledge of matters with which, should he be elected, he 
would have to deal. 

'■ All these things worked in favor of the Republicans. They 
profited more from the weakness of the opposition than from 
their own merit. Originally, when slavery was the great and 
almost the only issue, they were a radical party, — radical 
also on the minor issues, such as they were. They were radi- 
cal in reconstruction times, radical protectionists then and 
later. But when their policies were triumphant they gradually 
became conservative. Although never unanimous, they were 
on the whole conservative on the entire series of issues affect- 
ing the public debt and the currency — payment of the five- 
twenty bonds, the national banks, inflation of the greenback 
currency, and silver coinage. They were conservative in re- 
spect of their own protective tariff policy. They were opposed 
to every item of the Populist programme. Now they were ex- 
posed to a new influence. The President, their President, their 
candidate in the approaching election, was frankly radical. He 
Was decidedly favorable to some of the most progressive meas- 
ures of the radical opposition, against which the party had 
previously set its face. The situation was peculiar. One party 
overwhelmingly controlled by radicals, when they chose to ex- 
ercise their power; the other quite as strongly conservative 
by preference, but willingly placing itself under the leadership 
of a frank radical, who made no secret of his intention to lead 
the party to adopt radicalism. In a certain sense both candi- 
dates were misplaced. There may come a time when men — all 
men — will emancipate themselves from party ties whenever 
their party goes whither they do not wish to follow. But that 
time had not come in 1904. What happened is what might 
have been expected to happen. It is a peculiarity of the con- 
servative that he adheres to party more closely than does the 
radical. Witness, for examples, the sudden growth of the 



136 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Greenback party, and of the Populist party. Witness the fact 
that although there were numerous secessions from the Demo- 
cratic party in 1896 on the silver question, a vast majority of 
the conservative element which it still contained — Judge 
Parker among the rest — voted for Mr. Bryan, though they 
were absolutely opposed to the free coinage of silver, which 
was the one question at issue. Witness now, that the con- 
servative element, at the time overwhelmingly predominant in 
the Republican party, supported the radical candidate in pre- 
ference to the conservative, and thus acquiesced in the plan 
of the leader to transform the body into a radical party. 

Herein lies the explanation both of the tameness of the 
canvass and of the result. Neither party as a whole had a posi- 
tive programme. One of the candidates was extraordinarily 
popular, and so strong a man in personality, so persuasive and 
sincere in his acts and motives, that resistance to his leader- 
ship was futile. He held his former supporters and attracted 
throngs of former opponents. The other candidate was — 
through no fault of his own — not popular because not known, 
and incapacitated by lack of experience to become a leader. He 
could not hold those who had gloried in the leadership of 
Bryan ; he could not detach even the conservative Republicans 
from Roosevelt. The consequence was a " landslide." 

The election of electors took place on November 8. The 
result is shown on page 137. 

The total popular vote was 13,523,108, — a decrease of 
more than 460,000 from the election of 1900, and nearly 
430,000 less than that cast eight years before, in 1896. The 
Republican vote was almost 400,000 greater in 1904 than in 
1900 : the Democratic vote decreased more than a million and 
a quarter; the combined votes for the minor candidates in- 
creased more than 400,000. These figures indicate in a gen- 
eral way the more important movements of the voters. We 
must make allowance for a normal increase in the number of 
men qualified to vote. In all probability not less than a million 
and a half of those who classed themselves as Democrats failed to 
support the ticket at the polls. Not far from a half of that num- 
ber voted either for Mr. Roosevelt or for one of the minor 
candidates. The other half abstained from voting. It is inter- 
esting to analyze the vote geographically, as by that process 
we can discover where the defection was most pronounced. In 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 



137 







Popular Vote 


Electoral 
Vote 




en 

I 




a 






03 


& 

1 




States 


1 


■a 


2 

3 


1 


81 


1 




i 








q a 


H 


"3 
| 


"2 




3 3 




si 


s * 


Sb'S 
« o 

&0Q 


Si 


"3 

§ 


3 

u 

i 




1 


02 


a 


3 

o 


t 


1 


Alabama .... 


22472 


79857 


612 


853 




5051 




11 


Arkansas . . 




46860 


64434 


993 


1816 


_ 


2318 


- 


9 


California . . . 




205226 


89404 


7380 


29535 


_ 


- 


10 


- 


Colorado . . 




134687 


100105 


3438 


4304 


335 


824 


5 


- 


Connecticut . 




111089 


72909 


1506 


4543 


675 


495 


7 


- 


Delaware . . . 




23712 


19359 


607 


146 


_ 


51 


3 


- 


Florida . . 




8314 


27040 


5 


2337 


_ 


1605 


- 


5 


Georgia . . . 




24003 


83472 


685 


197 


- 


22635 


- 


13 


Idaho . . . 




47783 


18480 


1013 


4949 


- 


353 


3 


_ 


Illinois . . . 




632645 


327606 


34770 


69225 


4698 


6725 


27 


- 


Indiana . . 




368289 


274335 


23496 


12043 


1598 


2444 


15 


- 


Iowa . . . 




307907 


149141 


11601 


14847 


- 


2207 


13 


- 


Kansas . . . 




212955 


86174 


7306 


15869 


- 


6253 


10 


- 


Kentucky . . . 




205277 


217170 


6609 


3602 


596 


2511 


- 


13 


Louisiana . . 




5205 


47708 


- 


995 


- 


- 


- 


9 


Maine . . . 




64438 


27649 


1510 


2103 


- 


- 


6 


- 


Maryland . . 




109497 


109446 


3034 


2247 


- 


- 


1 


7 


Massachusetts 




257822 


165772 


4286 


13604 


2365 


1290 


16 


- 


Michigan . . 




364957 


135392 


13441 


9042 


1036 


1159 


14 


- 


Minnesota 




216651 


55187 


6253 


11692 


974 


2103 


11 


- 


Mississippi . 




3187 


53374 


- 


392 


- 


1424 


- 


10 


Missouri . . 




321449 


296312 


7191 


13009 


1674 


4226 


18 


- 


Montana . . 




34932 


21773 


335 


5676 


208 


1520 


3 


- 


Nebraska . . 




138558 


52921 


6323 


7412 


- 


20518 


8 


- 


Nevada . . 




6864 


3982 


_ 


925 


- 


344 


3 


- 


New Hampshire 




54163 


34074 


750 


1090 


- 


83 


4 


- 


New Jersey . 




245164 


164516 


6845 


9587 


2680 


3705 


12 


- 


New York . 




859533 


68.3981 


20787 


36883 


9127 


7459 


39 


- 


North Carolina 




82442 


124121 


361 


124 


- 


819 


_ 


12 


North Dakota 




52595 


14273 


1140 


2117 


- 


165 


4 


- 


Ohio. . . . 




600095 


344674 


19339 


36260 


2633 


1392 


23 


_ 


Oregon . . 




60455 


17521 


3806 


7619 


_ 


753 


4 


- 


Pennsylvania. 




840949 


337998 


33717 


21863 


2211 


- 


34 


_ 


Rhode Island 




41605 


24839 


768 


956 


488 


_ 


4 


- 


South Carolina 




2554 


52563 


- 


22 


- 


1 


_ 


9 


South Dakota 




72083 


21969 


2965 


3138 


- 


1240 


4 


- 


Tennessee 




105369 


131653 


1891 


1354 


- 


2506 


- 


12 


Texas . . . 




51242 


167200 


3995 


2791 


421 


8062 


_ 


13 


Utah . . . 




62446 


33413 


- 


5767 


- 


- 


3 


_ 


Vermont . . 




40459 


9777 


792 


859 


- 


_ 


4 


_ 


Virginia . . 




47880 


80650 


1382 


218 


56 


359 


_ 


12 


Washington . 




101540 


28098 


3329 


10023 


1592 


669 


5 


_ 


West Virginia 




132628 


100881 


4600 


1572 


— 


339 


7 


- 


Wisconsin 




280315 


124205 


9672 


28240 


223 


530 


13 


- 


Wyoming . . 




20489 


8930 


217 


1077 


- 


- 


3 


- 


Total .... 1 7628785 


5084442 


258950 


402895 


33490 


114546 


336 


140 



138 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

round numbers the vote of the New England States, for the 
leading candidates, at the two elections was as follows : — 

1900 1904 

Republican 539,000 569,600 

Democratic 336,000 335,000 

In these States, naturally conservative, the Democrats held 
their own fairly well, and the total vote showed an increase 
of between three and four per cent, all of which went to the 
Republicans. 

In the States of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, 
the vote stood thus : — 

1900 1904 

Republican 1,756,400 1,945,600 

Democratic 1,267,400 1,184,000 

; Here again the change was slight — an increase of about 
100,000 in the total vote, a little more than three per cent ; a 
loss of nearly 100,000 by the Democrats, a gain of nearly 
200,000 by the Republicans, both of which changes were 
largely in Pennsylvania. But as we go westward the tendency 
becomes more marked. In Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michi- 
gan, the totals were 

1900 1904 

Republican 1,794,200 1,963,900 

Democratic 1,499,200 1,080,800 

A loss of 420,000 by the Democrats, offset by a gain of 
170,000 by the Republicans, and a decided decrease in the 
total popular vote. The Democratic loss in the four States 
was 28 per cent. The group of Western States consisting of 
Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Kan- 
sas and Nebraska, made this showing : — 

1900 1904 

Republican 1,162,200 1,278,600 

Democratic 817,500 501,300 

In these States the total vote decreased 220,000, or eleven 
per cent. The Republicans increased their vote 116,000; the 
Democrats lost more than 300,000, — a decline of 38 per cent. 
The other States of the Northwest and the Pacific Coast, 
nine in number, where Mr. Bryan had been strongest voted 
thus : — 



ROOSEVELT'S "SECOND ELECTION" 139 

1900 1904 

Republican 479,800 674,400 

Democratic 454,000 321,500 

The total vote increased about six per cent, but whereas the 
Republicans gained almost 200,000 the Democrats lost 130,000, 
the decrease being almost 30 per cent. Finally we have the 
sixteen Southern States from Delaware to Texas, in some of 
which the contest was close, but in others there was no contest. 
Their totals were : — 

1900 1904 

Republican 1,488,500 1,244,400 

Democratic 1,983,900 1,656,600 

Here the total vote decreased more than 570,000 — a num- 
ber greater by 110,000 than the decrease in the country as a 
whole — and nearly 17 per cent. The Republicans lost 
244,000 ; the Democrats 327,000. But the figures as to that 
part of the country are of little significance, since the voters 
of that region are largely unaffected by events and movements 
that have a powerful influence elsewhere. 

Upon a general survey we see that, as we should expect, the 
radicalism which is more prevalent and more intense as one 
proceeds westward, manifested itself in a more extensive re- 
volt against the conservative attitude of the Democratic party 
in this canvass, and in increased support of Mr. Roosevelt 
who was regarded as more inclined to radicalism than Judge 
Parker. 

The leading politicians of both parties seem to have been 
astounded by the magnitude and thoroughness of the Repub- 
lican victory. Mr. Parker issued a statement in which he 
made it clear that he had anticipated defeat, but he declared 
that he did not regret having undertaken the contest against 
overwhelming odds. Mr. Roosevelt, late in the evening of 
election day, when the result of the voting was sufficiently 
known, sent out to the press of the country the following 
statement, which was destined in after years to be the subject 
of much discussion : — 

I am deeply sensitive of the honor done me by the American 
people in thus expressing their confidence in what I have done 
and have tried to do. I appreciate to the full the solemn responsi- 
bility that confidence imposes upon me, and I shall do all that in 
my power lies not to forfeit it. On the 4th of March next I 



140 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

shall have served three and a half years, and that three and a half 
years constitutes my first term. The wise custom which limits the 
President to two terms regards the substance and not the form, 
and under no circumstances will I be a candidate for or accept 
another nomination. 

Although, on numerous occasions afterward, the hopes of 
his enthusiastic partisans and the fears of opponents in his own 
party pictured him as being forced to depart from the resolu- 
tion thus expressed, or induced by his strong desire to carry 
out his measures to reconsider that resolution voluntarily, he 
never gave the least countenance to any suggestion of that 
nature. Even so early as May, 1905, when an Omaha news- 
paper urged that if Congress refused to pass such a railroad 
law as he proposed he would be compelled to accept a nomina- 
tion in 1908, he sent to that paper a statement in which he said : 
u You are authorized to state that I will not again be a can- 
didate for the office of President of the United States. There 
are no strings to this statement. I mean it." 

The counting of the electoral votes proceeded without any 
incident. The inauguration was an occasion of perhaps un- 
equalled brilliancy in the history of such ceremonies. It was 
estimated that there were more than two hundred thousand 
visitors in Washington on the 4th of March. The President 
had for an escort his " Rough Riders " of the campaign in 
Cuba, and there were also in the procession a party of Filip- 
ino scouts, a native battalion from Porto Rico, Indian chiefs, 
and other picturesque groups. The oath of office was admin- 
istered by Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller, and the inaugural 
address was delivered in the presence of an immense throng of 
people. 



Ill 

THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 

Perspective is necessary for the final and authoritative 
writing of history. It is indispensable in the case of such a 
period as the second administration of Theodore Roosevelt. It 
will be many years yet before a sound judgment can be pro- 
nounced upon the events of those four years, and upon their 
effect. It may be inaccurate even to use the word events, for 
although many measures were adopted, the period, in so far as 
it differed widely from the years that preceded it, was one of 
agitation rather than of accomplishment. The agitator was the 
President himself, who differed in a marked degree, in tem- 
perament, in method, in activity, from any of his predecessors. 
During his first term he observed, as loyally as it was possible 
for one constituted as he was, the pledge he gave, when as- 
suming the office upon the death of President McKinley, to 
maintain the policy which that death had interrupted. Yet he 
gave, even then, indications which — as was noted in the last 
chapter — gave disquiet to some of the most prominent and 
therefore most influential members of the Republican party. 
That party, as he found it, was conservative, and the men who 
were distrustful of Mr. Roosevelt were conservative. Notwith- 
standing their apprehensions, they did not openly oppose his 
nomination for a second term, and after the nomination they 
worked earnestly and successfully for his election. 

That election, which he had a right to interpret as a man- 
date from the people to adopt and urge his own policies, left 
Mr. Roosevelt free to depart as widely as he might see fit from 
the standards and methods which he had inherited, and to in- 
troduce new issues into national politics, or to modify the views 
and treatment of issues already brought before the people, but 
not yet " paramount." It could cause no strain upon his own 
conscience, and it could not be a just ground of complaint, on 
the part of those who had, however willingly or unwillingly, 
voted for him, that his policy should be radical. He had re- 
vealed the fact that he was not a conservative like the con- 



142 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

servatives who composed a majority of Congress, but was, with 
reference to the new issues at least, a radical. In spite of that 
revelation he had been elected by an immense majority, — the 
greatest majority ever given to a President. Hence he did not 
betray his party, nor did he practise any deception upon the 
people. But he did partially transform his party, and intro- 
duced divisions the consequences of which it must be left to the 
future historian to study and analyze. 

The chief difficulty which is experienced by one who under- 
takes to recount the occurrences and note the changes which 
he has observed as current events — let us confine the state 
ment to the four years from 1905 to 1909 — is that of conceal 
ing a bias on one side or the other — for or against radicalism 
But it is possible to present the facts impartially and to re- 
press partisanship to its narrowest limits. If the facts are pre 
sented truly, readers will interpret them for themselves. 

The situation was extraordinary. Mr. Roosevelt at the time 
of the election, and probably ever since, possessed a personal, 
as distinguished from a political, popularity greater than that 
of any other President, unless General Jackson was an excep- 
tion. Nor was his political popularity much if any less than 
that of any one of his predecessors who was twice elected. 
There was more opposition within the Republican party to the 
reelection of Lincoln in 1864, and to that of Grant in 1872, 
than to that of Roosevelt in 1904; and neither Lincoln nor 
Grant received a tithe of the secret support, or of the number 
of silent votes from Democrats that Roosevelt received. More- 
over, there was never a whisper or a suspicion on the part of 
any one attached to any party that the President was insincere, 
or that he was animated by any but the best and most worthy 
motives to do that which he conceived to be for the welfare of 
the country and the triumph of righteousness. Such suspicions 
arose only at a later period with which we have here nothing 
to do. 

His opponents might and did think that he was at times 
arbitrary in his action, that he was impulsive, that he made 
mistakes in his earnest haste to do right, and that he was too 
sure that his own way was right and that any other way, or 
any opposition to his way, must be wrong. But those were 
apparently the opinions of a minority only, and that minority 
was composed chiefly of men in public life, certainly of men 
who took more than an average interest in public affairs. The 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 143 

people, as distinguished from these, trusted him, believed in 
him, were glad to follow enthusiastically where he might lead 
them. This is as much as to say that there was no effective 
opposition. Not on the part of the Democrats, who said in a 
spirit which was not altogether a mock complaint that he had 
stolen their platform ; not on the part of the Republicans, a 
large number of whom — were they a majority of the whole 
party ? — applauded, while the rest were deterred, by their 
unwillingness to divide the party as well as by the hopeless- 
ness of the undertaking, from directly and openly opposing 
him. It is certain that the secret opposition to the President's 
social and economic policies was more rife in Congress than it 
was in the country at large, possibly more so than in any part 
of the country. The course adopted in the Senate and House 
of Representatives was to listen to the President's recommend- 
ations, express an academic approval of the measures he urged, 
and enact into law as few of them as possible. But his policies 
remained, and the new issues survived to be dealt with as they 
might be by the next administration. 

At no period in the national history were the matters which 
engrossed the attention of Congress and of the people more 
numerous or more various than in the four years we are now 
to consider. It was all owing to the prodigious activity of the 
President's mind and to his extraordinary energy. He was un- 
able to concentrate that energy on one object at a time. He 
always had a long programme of reforms, and turned swiftly 
from one to another, representing each in turn to be of the 
utmost importance. In mentioning the leading events of the 
time it becomes necessary to classify them and largely to disre- 
gard chronological order. Many of the events and of the pro- 
blems discussed, but not solved at the time, had no influence, 
or at the most but a slight influence, upon the ensuing election, 
which is our chief theme. Nevertheless they were so involved 
with other events and agitations which did play a part in the 
election of 1908 that they cannot be overlooked. 

One State was admitted to the Union during Mr. Roosevelt's 
second administration. Oklahoma had almost four hundred 
thousand inhabitants in 1900, and was even then entitled to 
admission with two representatives. It would lead us too far 
astray to inquire why it was not admitted, but undoubtedly 
one of the reasons was that many men insisted that the claims 
of Arizona and of New Mexico should be considered at the 



144 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

same time. At all events, when the question came up for de- 
cision there was a general disposition to link together the for- 
tunes of the three proposed new States. For it was assumed at 
the outset that the Indian Territory would be incorporated 
with Oklahoma. Indeed, a movement to make that Territory 
an independent State met with little favor in the Territory it- 
self, when the matter was submitted to a " referendum." The 
situation was this : there was no open and avowed opposition 
to the admission of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory as one 
State, though the apprehension of a loss of political power by 
the addition of two Democrats to the Senate made many Re- 
publicans lukewarm, and possibly explains their willingness to 
complicate the case with those of Arizona and New Mexico. 
Neither of those Territories had sufficient population in 1900 
to entitle it to onejepresentative, but New Mexico had un- 
doubtedly increased enough by 1905 to contain the necessary 
quota of population. But there were strong objections to erect- 
ing into States communities so sparsely settled, objections which 
gained strength from a consideration of the Mexican origin of 
many of the inhabitants. It was therefore proposed to make 
one State of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory, and one of 
New Mexico and Arizona. The original position of the Repub- 
licans, most of them, was — this or nothing. The Democrats 
were strongly in favor of admitting New Mexico and Arizona 
as separate States. The proposition to unite them encountered 
great popular opposition in Arizona. Ultimately it was proposed 
to admit them as one State in case — the question to be sub- 
mitted to popular vote — the people of both Territories should 
agree to the Union. Otherwise they must wait. 

The subject occupied a large part of the time of Congress 
during the session of 1905-06. The bill was passed by the 
House of Representatives in the form just noted. The Senate 
amended it by striking out all reference to Arizona and New 
Mexico, and in the end an agreement was reached upon that 
disposition of the matter. On the 16th of June, 1906, the Pre- 
sident signed the act admitting Oklahoma. The new State met 
the hopes of the Democrats and the fears of the Republicans by 
sending to Washington two Democratic senators and four Dem- 
ocratic members of the House of the five to which it was entitled. 

The government had upon its hands during this administra- 
tion an unusually large number of matters in its relation with 
foreign governments. Venezuela continued to be a thorn in its 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 145 

side. The government of Castro refused to submit to an impar- 
tial tribunal any of the questions on which it took issue with 
the United States, maintaining that they were all strictly within 
the jurisdiction of Venezuelan courts, which, on the theory of 
the complete sovereignty of the republic, would have been an 
incontrovertible position were it not for the fact that the courts 
were under the complete control of the dictator. President 
Roosevelt sent a commissioner to Bogota to investigate, but no 
definite action was taken to enforce American demands. 

Santo Domingo came once more into the field of American 
diplomacy. That republic had for many years been cursed by 
revolutions, the aim of most if not all the insurgents having 
been to obtain possession of the custom houses and of the pub- 
lic funds. A heavy foreign debt had been incurred, which no 
dictator pretended to recognize to the extent of paying the 
interest, to say nothing of the principal. There was no good 
answer to foreign governments which might ask how the United 
States justified a refusal either to permit them to collect the 
debts due to their subjects, or itself to take steps to compel 
Santo Domingo to meet its obligations. A plan was agreed 
upon involving (1) an amicable scaling-down of the foreign 
debt to an amount which the republic might be able to meet ; 
(2) placing the collection of customs in the hands of a selected 
American officer ; and (3) a division of the funds collected be- 
tween the government of Santo Domingo and the foreign cred- 
itors. The President undertook to carry out the arrangement 
without submitting it to ratification by the Senate, which was 
beyond question entitled to a voice in the matter, not only of 
becoming an agent for collecting and distributing the funds of 
a foreign government, but of the stipulation contained in the 
original " protocol " that the United States would maintain 
the integrity of the republic and the stability of the government. 
Owing to the storm of protest against the independent action of 
the President, a formal treaty was drawn and was submitted to 
the Senate in February, 1905. In a special message, on March 
6, the President strongly urged the ratification of the treaty, 
but the Senate adjourned without acting upon it. In Feb- 
ruary, 1907, the Senate ratified a treaty on the subject by which 
the arrangement as to the collection and distribution of Dom- 
inican revenue became effective ; but the treaty contained no 
engagement on the part of the United States to become respons- 
ible for Dominican sovereignty. 



146 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

In the summer of 1906 the United States was obliged to 
perforin a duty which rested upon it as a result of the war 
with Spain. The condition of Cuba was comparatively peace- 
ful during the first term of President Palma. But as the time 
drew near for the election of his successor, there were dis- 
turbances. His political opponents accused the government of 
offences against the political liberty of the citizens. They 
charged it with suppressing opposition and with measures that 
would make a free election impossible. It is certain that the whole 
influence of the Cuban administration was exerted to compass 
the reelection of Senor Palma. He was elected and an insur- 
rection took place. At first the Cuban government professed 
itself able to deal with the insurgents, but the evil grew and 
became unmanageable. The situation was already serious in 
August. On September 13 United States marines were landed 
on Cuban soil as a precautionary measure, and on the next day 
President Roosevelt issued a warning to Cubans, urging peace, 
and assuring them that unless they should maintain order the 
United States would intervene. The warning was not heeded. 
On the 25th President Palma found it no longer possible to 
withstand the insurrection and resigned his office. Thereupon 
the United States took control of the government and installed 
a governor-general at Havana. The courts and the civil offices 
were still administered by Cubans, and Cuban laws were in 
force. The people were assured that when there should be a 
reasonable prospect that they could be trusted to govern them- 
selves peaceably the government would be restored to them. 
There were many persons in both countries who believed that in 
the end Cuba would be absorbed in the United States, and un- 
doubtedly many persons wished that result. But the promise 
was sincere and the engagement to restore the government to 
the Cubans was loyally carried out. 

A Pan-American conference was held at Rio de Janeiro, 
beginning on July 23, 1906. So far as the United States was 
concerned, the meeting was chiefly notable from the fact that 
it was attended by Mr. Root, the Secretary of State. Mr. Root 
was the object of extraordinary attention and hospitality. He 
made many speeches at the conference, or in connection with 
it, and won the hearts of the South American people by his 
pacific and tactful utterances. Before his return he made a tour 
of several of the South American countries and was every- 
where received with great enthusiasm. The labors of the cont 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 147 

ference were not fruitful in large consequences. No single con- 
ference can modify national character or dissipate such national 
jealousies as exist between the Latin- American republics. But 
every such meeting serves to improve their mutual relations to 
a certain extent. 

The Russo-Japanese War which began when, on February 
8, 1904, Admiral Togo engaged the Russian fleet at Port Ar- 
thur, was waged with fury for sixteen months. At the end of 
that time President Roosevelt took a step which, although 
without precedent in history, won for him great credit and last- 
ing fame. He undertook, and succeeded in the undertaking, to 
bring about a cessation of hostilities and a conference between 
the belligerent powers. He consulted with the representatives 
in Washington of the Russian and Japanese governments and 
found that neither would object to a suggestion from him that 
they bring the war to a speedy conclusion. The American am- 
bassador at St. Petersburg had an audience with the Tsar, and 
called his attention to that clause of the Hague Convention 
which provides that an intermediatory advance shall never be 
considered as an unfriendly act by disputing powers. The Tsar 
having consented to receive a communication from the Pres- 
ident, Mr. Roosevelt, on June 8, addressed identical notes to 
St. Petersburg and Tokio. 

- He expressed the opinion that the time had come when " in 
the interest of all mankind he must endeavor to see if it is not 
possible to bring to an end the terrible and lamentable conflict 
now being waged;" The United States was friendly to both 
countries, and hoped for the welfare of each. He urged them 
to open direct negotiations with each other, "without any inter- 
mediary, " and offered to do anything that the two powers 
might wish him to do, in arranging the preliminaries as to the 
time and place of the meeting. The proposition was accepted, 
plenipotentiaries were appointed by each government, and the 
meeting was held at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where, on 
September 5, a treaty of peace was signed. 
; An agitation against the Japanese residing in San Francisco 
broke out in 1906. It was similar in motive to the long-stand- 
ing hostility of the labor element in the same city toward the 
Chinese, but took a different method of expression. It was 
aimed against the Japanese children and youth who had been 
allowed to attend the public schools with pupils of native and 
other foreign parentage. The school authorities adopted a reg- 



148 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

ulation forbidding the admission of Japanese to the schools. 
This was justly regarded as a grievance by the Japanese popu- 
lation of the city, and also by the government, of Japan, as 
being a violation of the treaty obligations of the United States. 
The movement against the children was one feature of an agi- 
tation to exclude Japanese immigrants altogether, as Chinese 
were already excluded. It was covertly encouraged by irre- 
sponsible Americans who were predicting and even openly ad- 
vocating a war with Japan. The situation was not very serious, 
in view of the nearly unanimous desire of the people to be on 
good terms with Japan, save in the fact that the general gov- 
ernment had no power over the city government of San Fran- 
cisco and could not abrogate the acts of the school committee. 
But by dint of persuasion and warning addressed to the city 
authorities, and by tactful diplomacy with Japan, the difficulty 
was composed. The Japanese government, which was sincerely 
opposed to the emigration of its people, undertook to put a 
stop to emigration by a system of passports, which does not 
allow Japanese laborers to leave the country, and the school 
committee of San Francisco withdrew its obnoxious regulation. 
Before the close of the administration an informal but most 
important arrangement, more nearly like a national alliance 
than anything in the previous history of the country, was con- 
cluded with Japan. It was the result of several months of cor- 
respondence between Ambassador Takahira and Secretary Root, 
and took the form of identical notes exchanged by the two 
governments on the 30th of November, 1908. Following is the 
text of the notes : — 

I. It is the wish of the two governments to encourage the free 
and peaceful development of their commerce on the Pacific Ocean. 

II. The policy of both governments, uninfluenced by any ag- 
gressive tendencies, is directed to the maintenance of the existing 
status quo, in the region above mentioned, and to the defence of 
the principle of equal opportunity for commerce and industry in 
China. 

III. They are accordingly firmly resolved reciprocally to respect 
the territorial possessions belonging to each other in said region. 

IV. They are also determined to preserve the common interests 
of all powers in China by supporting, by all pacific means at their 
disposal, the independence and integrity of China and the princi- 
ple of equal opportunity for commerce and industry of all nations 
in the empire. 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 149 

V. Should any event occur threatening the status quo, as above 
described, or the principle of equal opportunity, as above described, 
it remains for the two governments to communicate with each 
other, in order to arrive at an understanding as to what measures 
they may consider it useful to take. 

It was a mere declaration of intention on the part of the two 
governments, and in no sense binding as an alliance would be ; 
it was, as Takahira expressed it, " something like a transaction 
between trusted friends," but it was universally regarded as a 
momentous event, and a complete answer to the fears — or 
the hopes — of those who foresaw a great naval struggle with 
Japan looming up before the country. 

The list of great public measures submitted to Congress dur- 
ing this administration is portentously long. The list of those 
which were enacted into law is much shorter, but probably of 
greater length than is exhibited by the history of any previous 
Congress except the First. Among the measures which failed, 
some of them of the class which the English term " hardy an- 
nuals," were ship subsidies, currency reform, national regulation 
of insurance, regulation of child labor, copyright reform, Phil- 
ippine tariff, the admission of Porto Ricans as citizens, limita- 
tion of injunctions in labor cases, prohibition of over-capital- 
ization of corporations, and some other measures w T hich formed 
a part of the President's policy, to be mentioned presently. 
Among those which were passed may be noted briefly — al- 
though some of them were of far-reaching importance — the 
meat-inspection law ; the pure-food law ; a codification and im- 
provement of the laws regulating naturalization ; the law limit- 
ing the hours of labor of employes of railway companies engaged 
in inter-State commerce ; the law giving the government a lim- 
ited right of appeal in criminal cases ; a service pension for all 
veterans of the Civil War more than sixty -two years old ; 
and an act prohibiting contributions to political campaign 
funds by public corporations, — but the sister bill providing 
for publicity of campaign funds and expenditures was defeated. 

There were other measures, some of which were and some 
were not passed, which must be mentioned at greater length. 
They were expressive of the President's emphatic views on 
many questions of public policy, — his hostility to "trusts," 
his strong opinions on the subject of " overgrown fortunes " 
and " predatory wealth," his sympathy with organized labor, 



150 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

his advocacy of national regulation of corporations and partic- 
ularly of control of railways and supervision of their rates. 

In 1906 an act was passed imposing liability upon all com- 
mon carriers engaged in inter-State commerce for all injuries 
suffered by their employes while in the service of the carrier. 
In a suit appealed to the Supreme Court it was decided that 
the act was unconstitutional, inasmuch as it applied to injuries 
received when the employe was engaged in other than inter- 
State business. Accordingly another "employers' liability" act 
was passed, approved April 22, 1908, giving the right to claim 
damages to "any person suffering injury while he is employed 
by such carrier in such [that is, inter-State] commerce." This 
was a measure strongly and persistently urged by the President. 
• Undoubtedly the most important law passed during the ad- 
ministration was that regulating railroad rates. It covered many 
more points than that of rate regulation. Most of the points 
were noncontroversial, but there was a strong conservative op- 
position to the provision conferring upon the Inter-State Com- 
merce Commission the right to fix maximum rates of freight 
and passenger business, and particularly to a denial of the right 
of railway companies to appeal from rate decisions by the Com- 
mission to the courts. The subject occupied a large part of the 
time of Congress, and mutually contradictory votes were passed. 
The President was most strenuous in opposition to any court 
review clause, but ultimately professed himself satisfied with 
the compromise and limited review sanctioned by the bill as it 
was passed. It became a law on June 29, 1906. It included 
among common carriers express and sleeping-car companies, and 
pipe lines for conveying oil ; and as to railroads it extended to 
such matters as terminals, storage, icing and ventilation. It 
forbade railway companies to be engaged in the transportation 
of any articles produced directly or indirectly by themselves, 
except' lumber, — a provision which was intended to prohibit 
such companies from being concerned in the mining of coal, or 
from the transportation and sale of coal mined by themselves. 
It contained strict rules limiting the issue of free passes, and 
drastic clauses against giving or receiving rebates, with severe 
penalties attached to violation of the regulation. It provided 
that no changes in rates should be made except upon at least 
thirty days' notice ; and it authorized the Inter-State Commerce 
Commission to prepare a uniform system of accounts, and to 
require all companies within the jurisdiction of the law to 



THE ERA OF « PROGRESSIVE " INSURGENCY 151 

adopt the system and to keep no other accounts. All these pro- 
visions were subsidiary to the grand purpose of the act, namely, 
to give the Inter-State Commerce Commission, enlarged to 
seven members, power to fix maximum rates on inter-State 
commerce transportation, which involved the power to refuse 
its consent to proposed increases of rates. 

The foregoing account of what was done, and of what was 
considered by Congress but left undone, conveys but a partial 
impression of the variety of the President's activities. He was 
interested in the conservation of national resources and in the 
Panama Canal. He established many great forest reserves, and 
when Congress passed an act that no more such reservations 
should be made except by its own authority, he made an order 
reserving seventeen million acres just before signing the act 
which took away his power. He made a personal visit to Pan- 
ama, and sent a message to Congress giving — with photo- 
graphic illustrations — the results of his observations. He made 
two changes in the administration of the canal, and when an 
attempt to have the excavation done by contract met with fail- 
ure, he entrusted the work to an army officer of engineers, with 
the happiest results. 

It would be a hopeless task to compress within reasonable 
limits a statement of the other subjects discussed by the Pres- 
ident in his many messages to Congress and in the numerous 
speeches made by him in the course of his tours, north, south, 
and west. The keynote of a large proportion of his utterances 
was undying hostility to the great corporations popularly 
termed "trusts," and to the accumulation of great wealth in 
individual hands. On many occasions, even in messages to Con- 
gress, he singled out the Standard Oil Company as a malefactor 
guilty of every possible crime against the public. It is believed 
that no other President except Andrew Johnson indulged so 
freely as did he in personalities, and even Mr. Johnson did not 
denounce men or bodies of men by name in his official papers. 
These statements are not to be taken as condemnatory of Mr. 
Roosevelt, but merely as statements of fact which every reader 
will judge for himself. Beyond all doubt his attitude toward 
the trusts, and toward the Standard Oil Company in particular, 
did him no harm with the people. A large majority of the 
people were of the same way of thinking and applauded him 
hotly. It was the popular sentiment at the time, whether per- 
manent or not is for the future to show, to regard the great 



152 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

corporations as an unmitigated evil, and the possession of enor- 
mous wealth not merely as prima facie evidence but as incon- 
trovertible evidence of wrongdoing, and the existence of such 
fortunes as a curse which it was the first duty of statesmanship 
to remove. The prevalence of these sentiments, largely due to 
the frequent and most forcible presentation of them by the 
President, was one of the most important and striking features 
of the political thought of the time. It may be doubted whether 
it had any appreciable effect upon the result of the ensuing 
election. But it certainly rendered the task of Mr. Roosevelt's 
successor by no means easy. 

Before entering upon the story of the canvass which culmi- 
nated in the election of 1908, it is necessary to call attention 
to the absence — to the singular absence — of the tariff ques- 
tion from the discussions in Congress and from the issues of 
the campaign. Not that the subject was altogether absent from 
the thoughts of journalists and politicians. A sentiment grad- 
ually took root in the minds of many Republicans both East 
and West in favor of a revision of the tariff. It was coupled 
with a desire for the establishment of closer trade relations with 
Canada by means of a reciprocity treaty. Those who took this 
view of the matter declared themselves loyal supporters of the 
Republican doctrine of protection, but they held that the rates 
imposed by the tariff law of 1897 were too high, and that they 
should be reduced by a reasonable amount. They denounced 
those who opposed a change, and called them, as by a term of 
reproach, " stand-patters." The question of tariff revision en- 
tered into the local politics of several States, chiefly Iowa, Wis- 
consin, and Massachusetts, and led to contests between two 
factions for governors and congressmen. Although the Pres- 
ident was believed to sympathize at least mildly with the revi- 
sionists, he was too earnest in securing the social reforms which 
he advocated to favor the taking up of the tariff question by 
Congress. Had he done so his effort would probably have met 
with failure. There were some revisionists in Congress, but the 
"stand-patters " had full control of both branches. There were 
signs, nevertheless, of great restiveness on the part of a minor- 
ity, and the germs of " insurgency " which sprouted and grew 
to maturity during the next administration were already in 
good ground. 

Mention must also be made of an event which at one time 
bade fair to be of large political importance. In August, 1906, 



A 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 153 

the town of Brownsville, Texas, was "shot up." Several com- 
panies of colored infantry were in garrison in the town, and it 
was charged that a party of them went through the town by 
night firing indiscriminately into the houses, and caused much 
damage to property and injury to persons. Circumstances 
pointed strongly to the colored soldiers as the offenders, but if 
they were guilty their action was so well planned in advance 
that it was impossible to fix the guilt upon any man or even 
upon the members of any company. Nevertheless there seemed 
to be little doubt that the guilty men were among them. When 
every soldier in the garrison had denied not only participation 
in the affair but also knowledge of the guilt of any man, the 
President took the radical step of discharging all the men irr 
the companies in the garrison, " without honor," forbade their 
reenlistment, and declared them ineligible to any employment 
iu a civil capacity by the government. There was a great out- 
cry against the severity of the President's order, and the special 
advocates of the colored race denounced it violently. The mat- 
ter was debated in Congress, particularly in the Senate, with 
much heat, and the order was declared to be in violation of 
army regulations and wholly beyond the President's power. 
The prohibition of civil employment was soon withdrawn, and 
sometime afterward those men who could prove that they were 
personally not concerned in the affair were permitted to reen- 
list. Mr. Taft, who was even then regarded as a probable can- 
didate for the presidency, was then the Secretary of War. He 
stood loyally by the President in the matter, and was then and 
afterward warned that he would be strongly opposed by the 
colored voters and their friends. It does not appear that the 
threat was effective with those who were expected to be influ- 
enced by it. 

Mr. Bryan, who had announced his purpose of devoting 
himself to organizing the progressive element of his party for 
the contest of 1908, was wise enough not to begin operations 
at once. He departed on a trip round the world, and received 
much attention in the countries which he visited. But to a 
somewhat unusual extent the canvass for the succession to Mr. 
Roosevelt was present in the minds of politicians during the 
whole four years of his term. Mr. Bryan, having returned to 
the United States in August, 1906, began to rally his adherents 
and the adherents of his policies. His first speech was at Mad- 
ison Square Garden in New York, on the 30th of August. He 



154 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

was received with much enthusiasm and outlined a part of his 
political programme. Among other measures he advocated gov- 
ernment ownership of railroads, " not as an immediate issue, 
but as an ultimate solution of the controversy." At that time 
it was generally taken for granted that he would again be the 
candidate of his party, if he should desire the nomination. 
There was no other candidate in sight. Those who had en- 
deavored in 1904 to throw off the radical yoke, and to shelve 
Mr. Bryan, had suffered such a defeat that they could hardly 
hope again to persuade the national convention to assume a 
conservative tone. They were fully as earnest in their opposi- 
tion to Mr. Bryan as before, but were silent and hopeless. Mr. 
Bryan set speculation regarding his own intentions at rest in 
a speech in Texas, in January, 1908, in which he said : " Those 
of you who never had an opportunity to hear a real live Pres- 
ident of the United States can at least say now that you have 
heard one speak who, on two occasions, cherished the delusion 
that he was going to be a real live President, and he feels the 
disease coming on again." 

It was not yet a clear field for him. There was interest, 
curiosity, not to say anxiety, on the part of many Democrats 
who saw the gradual building-up of Mr. William R. Hearst's 
" Independence League." Mr. Hearst came perilously near 
being elected Mayor of New York City in 1906, although he 
was running in opposition to the regular Democratic candidate. 
The Independence League was universally recognized as an 
organization having for its sole object the promotion of the 
political fortunes of Mr. Hearst. It was financed by him, and 
was under his immediate management and control. No one 
but himself and his intimates — possibly even they should be 
excepted — knew whether he intended to contest the Demo- 
cratic nomination or to set up an independent party and a sep- 
arate ticket. The mystery was not solved for more than a year. 

It is not to be supposed that among the regular Democrats 
there was no disposition to contest Mr. Bryan's supremacy. 
Here and there, particularly in the South, there were mutter- 
ings of discontent. Mr. Henry Watterson, of Louisville, the 
creator of many political sensations, announced in his paper, 
the "Courier- Journal," that he had found a candidate who 
could be nominated and elected. After a time he revealed the 
name of the man whom he proposed — Governor John John- 
son, of Minnesota. The suggestion was well received, for Mr. 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 155 

Johnson had twice been successful in his canvass for the gov- 
ernorship, although his State was strongly Republican. But 
Mr. Bryan was too well entrenched. His leadership could not 
be broken. Nor did the suggestion of Judge George Gray, of 
Delaware, of Mr. Judson Harmon, of Ohio, of Mr. Hoke Smith, 
of Georgia, or of other possible candidates, disturb Mr. Bryan 
or weaken his hold on the party. 

On the Republican side there was a multiplicity of candi- 
dates. The third term idea could not be put down permanently. 
No one, even those who persisted in urging that Mr. Roosevelt 
be elected once more, questioned or doubted his sincerity and 
earnestness in refusing to be a candidate. They thought the 
Republican convention could be "stampeded," and that he 
might be nominated and elected in spite of himself. The 
President did his utmost to put a stop to the movement. But 
whenever it was renewed and he did not instantly reiterate 
his purpose, the " boomers" were encouraged. "Consider," 
they said in effect. " Suppose the convention does not ask him 
to accept another nomination. Suppose that the electors vote 
for him and elect him. He has n't said that he would not serve 
another term." Such suggestions forced the President to re- 
peat again and again his fixed determination. In December, 
1907, he gave out a statement in which, after reciting his an- 
nouncement just after the election of 1904, he said : " I have v 
not changed and shall not change the decision thus announced." 
Undoubtedly the movement made a deeper impression on the 
public mind because some of those who promoted it were in 
close personal and official relations to the President. 

The third term " boom " did not prevent the friends of 
other candidates from active efforts in their behalf. Vice-Pres- 
ident Fairbanks was strongly supported not only by his State, 
Indiana, but in other parts of the country. Governor Hughes, 
of New York, whose political career, brief but brilliant, had 
won for him many friends, was a favorite candidate, less with 
the politicians than with those who prided themselves upon 
their independence. The governor wrote a letter in which he 
intimated that he would accept a nomination if it came to him 
under proper conditions, and a Hughes league was formed in 
New York. Secretary Root was favored by many men, on ac- 
count of the ability and tact he had shown in the War and 
State Departments; but the movement in his favor made 
little progress, inasmuch as opposition developed, based upon 



156 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

his relations to corporate interests before he entered the field 
of national politics. The growing band of " insurgents," or as 
they were then called, " progressive " Republicans, urged the 
nomination of Governor Cummins, of Iowa. Then there were 
"favorite sons," — Senator Knox, of Pennsylvania, Governor 
La Follette, of Wisconsin, and Mr. Speaker Cannon, of Illinois. 
Finally there were those who advised politicians to keep an 
eye on Secretary of the Treasury George B. Cortelyou, in case 
the convention should come to a deadlock and the delegates 
should turn to a " dark horse." 

But it was not difficult for any observer to discover that 
the President's preference in the matter of his successor was 
his Secretary of War, William H. Taft, who had achieved a 
great reputation as Governor of the Philippines and had en- 
hanced it as a cabinet officer. It was alleged that the President 
used his appointing power to promote the candidacy of Judge 
Taft, — an accusation which he warmly repelled and challenged 
the citation of particulars, although he did not deny the state- 
ment that he hoped Mr. Taft would be the candidate. Senator 
Foraker, of Ohio, who was himself a candidate and announced 
his purpose to contest with Mr. Taft the election of delegates 
from Ohio, and who was by no means friendly to the President, 
openly charged improper use of the official patronage in the 
preliminaries of the canvass. In a speech at Canton, Ohio, in 
April, 1907, he said, "that the President of the United States 
should be engaged in a political contest to determine his suc- 
cessor is without a precedent, unless it be the bad precedent 
set by Andrew Jackson as to Martin Van Buren." It may be 
mentioned that when a vacancy occurred on the bench of the 
Supreme Court the seat was offered to Mr. Taft, and was de- 
clined by him, in view of his candidacy for the presidency, 
although he had a strong predilection for a judicial position. 
For a full year before the election Judge Taft was much before 
the people in many parts of the country, and made many 
speeches on public affairs. He was regarded, no doubt rightly, 
as a spokesman for the President, when the President was not 
speaking for himself. 

The first direct steps in the canvass were taken in December, 
1907, when the national committees of the two leading parties 
met to determine the time and place of holding the national 
conventions. The Republicans chose Chicago as the place and 
June 16, 1908, as the time of their meeting. The Democrats 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 157 

fixed upon Denver, and July 7. From the time the prelimin- 
aries were agreed upon there was increased political activity. 
Early in January a movement was set on foot in New York 
City by certain Democrats, — some of them citizens of other 
States, — the plain purpose of which was to eliminate Mr. 
Bryan. It was decided to have a secret conference of chosen 
men, and invitations were sent to those who had been selected. 
But the publicity that was given to the movement killed it. 
The wish to be " regular " was so strong in the minds of many 
men that there seemed to be little hope that the conference 
would be generally attended. The project was given up as 
" premature," and the invitations were withdrawn. In fact 
the effort to throw aside Mr. Bryan did not prosper. In the 
same month of January it was noised abroad that some of the 
senators and congressmen had conferred together, and that 
one or more of them would shortly advise Mr. Bryan that it 
was the general opinion of Democrats that he should with- 
draw from the field. Mr. Bryan took a characteristic course. 
He went to Washington, as if to give those who were con- 
spiring to " bell the cat" their opportunity. With one consent 
they refrained. Mr. Bryan's visit was a triumph. No one sug- 
gested that he should lay down the leadership. On the contrary, 
he went away from the city more evidently the leader of his 
party than ever before ; and from that time there was no doubt 
of his nomination, and no movement against it that gave the 
smallest promise of success. Yet every one knew that there 
was a certain element in the party that had never cheerfully 
submitted to his leadership, and that many men who had sup- 
ported him heartily either were tired of his ascendancy or 
doubted the expediency of nominating him for a third time. 
Late in 1907 there was a canvass by the New York " Times " 
and the Brooklyn "Eagle" of Democratic sentiment in the 
South where Mr. Bryan was strongest. The result indicated 
that, although Bryan had more supporters than any other can- 
didate, there was much lukewarmness toward him. 

On the 22d of February, 1908, there was a conference of 
Mr. Hearst's Independence League in Chicago. A platform 
was adopted, and Mr. Hearst made a speech in which he at- 
tacked both parties — the Republicans for their opposition to 
the policies which he advocated, the Democrats because they 
did not show constancy in their advocacy of those policies. It 
was decided that the provisional national committee should 



158 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

make nominations of President and Vice-President after the 
conventions of the two leading parties. 

No further political events of importance took place until 
the time for the meeting of the National Conventions. Begin- 
ning in February, there were the usual State and district con- 
ventions, which had not proceeded far before it became evident 
to all political observers that the nominations would fall to 
Mr. Taft and Mr. Bryan. 

The first convention for the nomination of candidates in 1908 
was that of the People's party. It was held at St. Louis on 
April 2 and 3. About three hundred delegates were said to be 
in attendance, but as was increasingly the case with the con- 
vention of that party, representation was exceedingly irregular. 
Some States were not represented at all; some were repre- 
sented by a single person who was not always a citizen of the 
State for which he acted. It was asserted on the floor that a 
resident of St. Louis was casting the entire vote, twenty-five, 
of Montana. Complaint was also made that certain members 
of the convention were self-appointed, no convention having 
been held to choose delegates. The fact that such statements 
were made indicates that the convention was not completely 
harmonious; and that also is a fact. Wrangling began before 
the convention met. The Nebraska delegation and that — con- 
sisting of one man — from Minnesota, went to St. Louis with 
a demand that the convention be postponed until after the 
Democratic Convention should be held. Their purpose was 
evident. They wished to make Mr. Bryan the candidate of the 
party. If he should be nominated at Denver, well and good. If 
not, the Populists should nominate him and make inroads into 
the Democratic ranks. But the Nebraska men were in a hopeless 
minority. The "Middle-of-the-Road" policy was strongly in the 
ascendant. Neither before the convention met nor at any time 
during its sessions was the proposition to postpone brought for- 
ward without meeting with overwhelming defeat. When the 
convention came to the point of deciding that nominations were 
in order, the Nebraska and Minnesota delegations withdrew. 

Jacob S. Coxey, of Ohio, was the temporary chairman of 
the convention and George H. Honnecker, of New Jersey, was 
the permanent President. The platform, which pleased the 
Nebraska and Bryan faction as little as did the resolution to 
make nominations at that time, was adopted on the 3d of April, 
and was as follows : — 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 159 

The People's Party of the United States, with increased con- 
fidence in its contentions, reaffirms the declarations made by the 
national convention at Omaha. 

The admonitions of Washington's farewell, the state papers of 
Jefferson, and the words of Lincoln are the teachings of our great- 
est apostles of human rights and political liberty. There has been a 
departure from the teachings of these great patriots during recent 
administrations. The government has been controlled so as to place 
the rights of property above the rights of humanity, has brought 
the country to a condition that is full of danger to our national 
wellbeing. Financial combinations have had too much power over 
Congress and too much influence with the administrative depart- 
ments of the government. Prerogatives of government have been 
unwisely and often corruptly surrendered to corporate monopoly 
and aggregations of predatory wealth. 

The issuing of money is a function of government and should 
not be delegated to corporation or individual. The Constitute 
gives to Congress alone the power to issue money and regulate the 
value thereof. We therefore demand that all money shall be issued 
by the government direct to the people, without the intervention 
of banks, and be a full legal tender for all debts, public and private, 
and in quantities to supply the necessity of the country. We de- 
mand that postal savings banks be instituted for the savings of 
the people. 

The public domain is the sacred heritage of all the people, and 
should be held for homesteads for actual settlers only. Alien owner- 
ship should be forbidden, and lands now held by aliens or by cor- 
porations which have violated the conditions of their grants should 
be restored to the public domain. 

To prevent unjust discrimination and monopoly, the government 
should own and control the railroads and those public utilities 
which in their nature are monopolies. To perfect the postal serv- 
ice, the government should own and operate the general telegraph 
and telephone systems and provide a parcels post. 

As to those trusts and monopolies which are not public utilities 
or natural monopolies, we demand that those special privileges 
which they now enjoy, and which alone enable them to exist, should 
be immediately withdrawn. Corporations, being the creatures of 
government, should be subjected to such govermental regulation 
and control as will adequately protect the public. We demand the 
taxation of monopoly privileges while they remain in private hands, 
to the extent of the value of the privilege granted. 

We demand that Congress shall enact a general law uniformly 
regulating the powers and duties of all incorporated companies 
doing interstate business. 



1/ 



160 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

As a means of placing all public questions directly under the 
control of the people, we demand that legal provision be made un- 
der which the people may exercise the init iative, referendum , and 
proportional representation, and direct vote for all public officers, 
with the right of recall. 

We believe in^h'e right of those who labor to organize for their 
mutual protection and' benefit, and encourage the efforts of the 
People's Party to preserve this right inviolate. We condemn the 
recent attempt to destroy the power of trade unions through the 
unjust use of the Federal injunction, substituting government 
by injunction for free government. 

We favor the enactment of legislation looking to the improve- 
ment of conditions for wage-earners. We demand the abolition of 
child labor in factories and mines and the suppression of sweat 
shops. We oppose the use of convict labor in competition with free 
labor. We demand the exclusion from American shores of foreign 
pauper labor, imported to beat down the wages of intelligent 
American workingmen. We favor the eight-hour work day and 
legislation protecting the lives and limbs of workmen through the 
use of safety appliances. 

We demand the enactment of an employers' liability bill within 
constitutional bounds. We declare against a continuation of the crim- 
inal carelessness in the operation of mines, through which thou- 
sands of miners have lost their lives to increase the dividends of 
stockholders, and demand the immediate adoption of precautionary 
measures to prevent a repetition of such horrible catastrophes. 

We declare that in times of depression, when workingmen are 
thrown into enforced idleness, that works of public improvements 
should be at once inaugurated and work provided for those who 
cannot otherwise secure employment. 

We especially emphasize the declaration of the Omaha platform 
that "wealth belongs to him who creates it, and every dollar taken 
from labor without a just equivalent is robbery." 

We congratulate the farmers of the country upon the enormous 
growth of their splendid organizations and the good already ac- 
complished through them, securing higher prices for farm products 
and better conditions generally for those engaged in agricultural 
pursuits. We urge the importance of maintaining these organiza- 
tions and extending their power and influence. 

We condemn all unwarranted assumption of authority by infe- 
rior federal courts in annulling by injunction the laws of the states, 
and demand legislative action by Congress which will prohibit such 
usurpation and will restrict to the Supreme Court of the United 
States the exercise of power in cases involving state legislation. 

We are opposed to all gambling in futures. 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 161 

We present to all people the foregoing declaration of principles 
and policies as our deep, earnest and abiding convictions, and now, 
before the country and in the name of the great moral but eternal 
power in the universe that makes for right thinking and right liv- 
ing and determines the destiny of nations, this convention pledges 
that the People's Party will stand by these principles and policies 
in success and in defeat ; that never again will the party, by the 
siren songs and false promises of designing politicians, be tempted 
to change its course or be again drawn upon the treacherous rocks 
of fusion. 

Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia, was nominated for Pres- 
ident, and Samuel W. Williams, of Indiana, for Vice-President. 
Both nominations were made by acclamation. 

The convention of the Socialist party was held at Chicago, 
May 10-17. A Socialist convention differs in many important 
respects from the convention of any other party. There is nothing 
" cut and dried " about it. From beginning to end everything 
is left to decision by the convention itself, after the freest sort 
of discussion, — for the members have no hesitation in express- 
ing their opinions about one another as well as upon the sub- 
ject under consideration. It would be impracticable, doubtless 
it would also be inexpedient, for a Democratic or a Republican 
national convention to throw its platform open to unlimited 
debate, paragraph by paragraph, and even word by word, as in 
committee of the whole. But that is the way a Socialist plat- 
form is constructed. To illustrate: The platform is in three 
parts, first, a declaration of " principles " ; second, the " plat- 
form " proper ; third, the " programme." When the " princi- 
ples " were under discussion a delegate called attention to the 
following sentence : " They [the capitalists] select our execu- 
tives, bribe our legislatures, and corrupt our courts of justice. " 
He moved, and the convention voted, to substitute " the " for 
" our." The implication is obvious. Another member suggested 
that the words " of justice " ought to be struck out, but that 
was not done. W 7 hen the platform was discussed, a delegate 
wished to make a similar change in the phrase " which our 
courts, legislatures, and executives," etc., and a debate ensued, 
in which members of the platform committee protested against 
a change which would imply that Socialists did not consider 
themselves as members of the nation, and the convention al- 
lowed the phrase to stand as given above. 



162 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

That the party should choose Sunday for its day of meeting, 
that it should change its presiding officer every day, that it 
should constitute every committee by election instead of by 
appointment, that the delegates should address one another in 
debate as " Comrade" So-and-so, — all these and other points 
that might be mentioned are indications of the extreme in- 
dependence " that characterizes their conventions — an inde- 
pendence on which, with good reason, they pride themselves. 
A necessary consequence of their method is that a Socialist 
convention is protracted. That of 1908 lasted eight days, on 
each of which there were two sessions. The number of dele- 
gates probably slightly exceeded two hundred, as the largest 
number recorded on any roll-call was 198. Twenty or more of 
the number were women. Credentials were presented from 
forty-four States and two Territories, but it is not possible to 
say whether delegates were present from all those States. 

The platform, in three parts, was adopted piecemeal, at 
several sessions. As finally agreed upon it is as follows: — 



j 



Principles 



Human life depends upon food, clothing and shelter. Only with 
these assured are freedom, culture and higher human development 
possible. To produce food, clothing or shelter, land and machin- 
ery are needed. Land alone does not satisfy human needs. Hu- 
man labor creates machinery and applies it to the land for the 
production of raw materials and food. Whoever has control of 
land and machinery controls human labor, and with it human life 
and liberty. 

To-day the machinery and the land used for industrial purposes 
are owned by a rapidly decreasing minority. So long as machin- 
ery is simple and easily handled by one man, its owner cannot 
dominate the sources of life of others. But when machinery be- 
comes more complex and expensive, and requires for its effective 
operation the organized effort of many workers, its influence 
reaches over wide circles of life. The owners of such machinery 
become the dominant class. 

In proportion as the number of such machine owners compared 
to all other classes decreases, their power in the nation and in the 
world increases. They bring ever larger masses of working peo- 
ple under their control, reducing them to the point where muscle 
and brain are their only productive property. Millions of formerly 
self-employing workers thus become the helpless wage slaves of 
the industrial masters. 



THE ERA OF " PROGRESSIVE " INSURGENCY 163 

As the economic power of the ruling class grows it becomes less 
useful in the life of the nation. All the useful work of the nation 
falls upon the shoulders of the class whose only property is its 
manual and mental labor power — the wage worker — or of the 
class who have but little land and little effective machinery outside 
of their labor power — the small traders and small farmers. The 
ruling minority is steadily becoming useless and parasitic. 

A bitter struggle over the division of the products of labor is 
waged between the exploiting propertied classes on the one hand 
and the exploited, propertyless class on the other. In this strug- 
gle the wage-working class cannot expect adequate relief from any 
reform of the present order at the hands of the dominant class. 

The wage-workers are therefore the most determined and irre- 
concilable antagonists of the ruling class. They suffer most from 
the curse of class rule. The fact that a few capitalists are per- 
mitted to control all the country's industrial resources and social 
tools for their individual profit, and to make the production of 
the necessaries of life the object of competitive private enter- 
prise and speculation is at the bottom of all the social evils of 
our time. 

In spite of the organization of trusts, pools and combinations, 
the capitalists are powerless to regulate reproduction for social ends. 
Industries are largely conducted in a planless manner. Through 
periods of feverish activity the strength and health of the workers 
are mercilessly used up, and during periods of enforced idleness 
the workers are frequently reduced to starvation. 

The climaxes of this system of production are the regularly re- 
curring industrial depressions and crises which paralyze the nation 
every fifteen or twenty years. 

The capitalist class, in its mad race for profits, is bound to ex- 
ploit the workers to the very limit of their endurance and to sacri- 
fice their physical, moral and mental welfare to its own insatiable 
greed. Capitalism keeps the masses of workingmen in poverty, 
destitution, physical exhaustion and ignorance. It drags their 
wives from their homes to the mill and factory. It snatches their 
children from the playgrounds and schools and grinds their slen- 
der bodies and unformed minds into cold dollars. It wantonly 
disfigures, maims and kills hundreds of thousands of workingmen 
annually in mines, on railroads and in factories. It drives mil- 
lions of workers into the ranks of the unemployed, and forces large 
numbers of them into beggary, vagrancy and all forms of crime and 
vice. 

To maintain their rule over their fellow men, the capitalists 
must keep in their pay all organs of the public powers, public 
mind and public conscience. They control the dominating par- 



164 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

ties and, through them, the elected public officials. They select the 
executives, bribe the legislatures and corrupt the courts of justice. 
They own and censor the press. They sway our educational in- 
stitutions. They own the nation politically and intellectually just 
as they own it industrially. 

The struggle between wage-workers and capitalists grows ever 
fiercer, and has now become the only vital issue before the Amer- 
ican people. The wage-working class, therefore, has the most vital 
and direct interest in abolishing the capitalist system. But in abol- 
ishing the present system, the workingmen will free not only their 
own class, but also all other classes of modern society : The small 
farmer, who is to-day exploited by large capital more indirectly 
but not less effectively than is the wage laborer ; the small manu- 
facturer and trader, who is engaged in a desperate and losing strug- 
gle for economic independence in the face of the all-conquering 
power of concentrated capital ; and even the capitalist himself, 
who is the slave of his wealth rather than its master. The struggle 
of the working class against the capitalist class, while it is a class 
struggle, is thus at the same time a struggle for the abolition of 
all classes and class privileges. 

The private ownership of the land and means of production 
used for exploitation, is the rock upon which class rule is built ; 
political government is its indispensable instrument. The wage- 
workers cannot be freed from exploitation without conquering the 
political power and substituting collective for private ownership of 
the land and means of production used for exploitation. 

The basis for such transformation is rapidly developing within 
the very bosom of present capitalist society. The factory system, 
with its immense machinery and minute division of labor, is rap- 
idly destroying all vestiges of individual production in manufac- 
ture. Modern production is already very largely a collective and 
social process, while the great trusts and monopolies which have 
sprung up in recent years have had the effect of organizing the 
work and management of some of our main industries on a na- 
tional scale, and fitting them for national use and operation. 

The Socialist party is primarily an economic and political move- 
ment. It is not concerned with matters of religious belief. 

In the struggle for freedom the interests of the workers of all 
nations are identical. The struggle is not only national but inter- 
national. It embraces the world and will be carried to ultimate 
victory by the united workers of the world. 

To unite the workers of the nation and their allies and sympa- 
thizers of all other classes to this end, is the mission of the Social- 
ist party. In this battle for freedom the Socialist party does not 
strive to substitute working class rule for capitalist class rule, but 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 165 

to free all humanity from class rule and to realize the international 
brotherhood of man. 

PLATFORM 

The Socialist party, in national convention assembled, in enter- 
ing upon the campaign of 1908, again presents itself to the people 
as the party of the working class, and as such it appeals for the 
support of all workers of the United States and of all citizens who 
sympathize with the great and just cause of labor. 

We are at this moment in the midst of one of those industrial 
breakdowns that periodically paralyze the life of the nation. The 
much-boasted era of our national prosperity has been followed by 
one of general misery. Factories, mills and mines are closed. Mil- 
lions of men, ready, willing and able to provide the nation with all 
the necessaries and comforts of life are forced into idleness and 
starvation. 

Within recent times the trusts and monopolies have attained an 
enormous and menacing development. They have acquired the 
power to dictate the terms upon which we shall be allowed to live. 
The trusts fix the prices of our bread, meat and sugar, of our coal, 
oil and clothing, of our raw material and machinery, of all the 
necessities of life. 

The present desperate condition of the workers has been made 
the opportunity for a renewed onslaught on organized labor. The 
highest courts of the country have within the last year rendered 
decision after decision depriving the workers of rights which they 
had won by generations of struggle. 

The attempt to destroy the Western Federation of Miners, 
although defeated by the solidarity of organized labor and the 
Socialist movement, revealed the existence of a far-reaching and 
unscrupulous conspiracy by the ruling class against the organiza- 
tion of labor. 

In their efforts to take the lives of the leaders of the miners the 
conspirators violated state laws and the federal constitution in a 
manner seldom equaled even in a country so completely domi- 
nated by the profit-seeking class as is the United States. 

The Congress of the United States has shown its contempt for 
the interests of labor as plainly and unmistakably as have the 
other branches of government. The laws for which the labor or- 
ganizations have continually petitioned have failed to pass. Laws 
ostensibly enacted for the benefit of labor have been distorted 
against labor. 

The working class of the United States cannot expect any 
remedy for its wrongs from the present ruling class or from the 
dominant parties. So long as a small number of individuals are 



166 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

permitted to control the sources of the nation's wealth for their pri- 
vate profit in competition with each other and for the exploitation 
of their fellowmen, industrial depressions are bound to occur at 
certain intervals. No currency reforms or other legislative measures 
proposed by capitalist reformers can avail against these fatal re- 
sults of utter anarchy in production. 

Individually competition leads inevitably to combinations and 
trusts. No amount of government regulation, or of publicity, or of 
restrictive legislation will arrest the natural course of modern in- 
dustrial development. 

While our courts, legislatures and executive offices remain in the 
hands of the ruling classes and their agents, the government will 
be used in the interests of these classes as against the toilers. 

Political parties are but the expression of economic class inter- 
ests. The Republican, the Democratic, and the so-called "Inde- 
pendence " parties and all parties other than the Socialist party, 
are financed, directed and controlled by the representatives of dif- 
ferent groups of the ruling class. 

In the maintenance of class government both the Democratic 
and Republican parties have been equally guilty. The Republican 
party has had control of the national government and has been 
directly and actively responsible for these wrongs. The Democratic 
party, while saved from direct responsibility by its political im- 
potence, has shown itself equally subservient to the aims of the 
capitalist class whenever and wherever it has been in power. The 
old chattel slave-owning aristocracy of the south, which was the 
backbone of the Democratic party, has been supplanted by a child 
slave plutocracy. In the great cities of our country the Democratic 
party is allied with the criminal element of the slums as the Re- 
publican party is allied with the predatory criminals of the palace 
in maintaining the interests of the possessing class. 

The various " reform " movements and parties which have 
sprung up within recent years are but the clumsy expression of 
widespread popular discontent. They are not based on an intelli- 
gent understanding of the historical development of civilization 
and of the economic and political needs of our time. They are 
bound to perish as the numerous middle class reform movements 
of the past have perished. 

PROGRAMME 

As measures calculated to strengthen the working class in its 
fight for the realization of this ultimate aim, and to increase its 
power of resistance against capitalist oppression, we advocate 
and pledge ourselves and our elected officers to the following 
programme : — 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 167 

1. The immediate government relief for the unemployed work- 
ers by building schools, by reforesting of cutover and waste lands, 
by reclamation of arid tracts, and the building of canals, and by 
extending all other useful public works. All persons employed on 
such works shall be employed directly by the government under 
an eight-hour work-day and at the prevailing union wages. The 
government shall also loan money to states and municipalities 
without interest for the purpose of carrying on public works. It 
shall contribute to the funds of labor organizations for the pur- 
pose of assisting their unemployed members, and shall take such 
other measures within its power as will lessen the widespread 
misery of the workers caused by the misrule of the capitalist 
class. 

2. The collective ownership of railroads, telegraphs, telephones, 
steamship lines and all other means of social transportation and 
communication, and all land. 

3. The collective ownership of all industries which are organized 
on a national scale and in which competition has virtually ceased 
to exist. 

4. The extension of the public domain to include mines, quar- 
ries, oil wells, forests and water-power. 

5. The scientific reforestation of timber lands, and the reclam- 
ation of swamp lands. The land so reforested or reclaimed to be 
permanently retained as a part of the public domain. 

6. The absolute freedom of press, speech and assemblage. 

7. The improvement of the industrial condition of the workers, 
(a) By shortening the workday in keeping with the increased 

productiveness of machinery. 

(6) By securing to every worker a rest period of not less than a 
day and a half in each week. 

(c) By securing a more effective inspection of workshops and 
factories. 

(d) By forbidding the employment of children under sixteen 
years of age. 

(e) By forbidding the interstate transportation of the products 
of child labor, of convict labor and of all uninspected factories. 

(/) By abolishing official charity and substituting in its place 
compulsory insurance against unemployment, illness, accident, in- 
validism, old age and death. 

8. The extension of inheritance taxes, graduated in proportion 
to the amount of the bequests and to the nearness of kin. 

9. A graduated income tax. 

10. Unrestricted and equal suffrage for men and women, and 
we pledge ourselves to engage in an active campaign in that 
direction. 



168 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

11. The initiative and referendum, proportional representation 
and the right of recall. 

12. The abolition of the senate. 

13. The abolition of the power usurped by the supreme court of 
the United States to pass upon the constitutionality of legislation 
enacted by Congress. National laws to be repealed or abrogated 
only by act of Congress or by a referendum of the whole people. 

14. That the constitution be made amendable by majority vote. 

15. The enactment of further measures for general education 
and for the conservation of health. The bureau of education to be 
made a department. The creation of a department of public health. 

16. The separation of the present bureau of labor from the 
department of commerce and labor, and the establishment of a 
department of labor. 

17. That all judges be elected by the people for short terms, and 
that the power to issue injunctions shall be curbed by immediate 
legislation. 

18. The free administration of justice. 

Such measures of relief as we may be able to force from capital- 
ism are but a preparation of the workers to seize the whole power 
of government, in order that they may thereby lay hold of the 
whole system of industry and thus come to their rightful inherit- 
ance. 

On May 14 Eugene V. Debs, of Indiana, was nominated as 
the Socialist candidate for President on the first roll-call. The 
full vote was as follows : — 

"Whole vote cast 198 

For Eugene V. Debs, of Indiana 159 

For James F. Carey, of Massachusetts 16 

For Carl D. Thompson, of Wisconsin 14 

For A. M. Simons, of Illinois 9 

The nomination was then made unanimous. 

The vote for a candidate for Vice-President was as follows : — 

Whole vote cast' 185 

For Benjamin Hanford, of New York 106 

For Seymour Stedman, of Illinois 42 

For May Wood Simons, of Illinois 20 

For John W. Slayton, of Pennsylvania ...... 15 

For Caleb Lipscomb, of Missouri 1 

For G. W. Woodby, of California 1 

The nomination of Mr. Hanford was also made unanimous. 
It is an interesting fact that with the exception of Mr. Debs 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 169 

every person voted for as a candidate for either President or 
Vice-President was an active member of the convention ; also 
that one of the persons voted for as a candidate for Vice- 
President was the wife of one who received votes as a candi- 
date for President. 

The Republican National Convention was held at Chicago 
on June 16. Julius C. Burroughs, of Michigan, was the tem- 
porary chairman, and Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts, 
was the permanent president. 

Although the nomination of Judge Taft was practically as- 
sured, the proceedings of the convention did not lack interest. 
The friends of other candidates refused to give up hope. They 
were encouraged — not to a great extent, to be sure — by a 
certain opposition to Taft inspired by a feeling that he was 
too closely identified with, and too strongly committed to, the 
Roosevelt policies. For there was a contingent of the delegates 
who were not radical in their opinions. But the shadow of 
Roosevelt covered the convention ; and neither the conserva- 
tives nor those who were not so much opposed to Taft as 
favorable to other candidates, when the two bodies were 
united, could emerge from that shadow. There was a certain 
amount of concerted action by the advocates of 'Fairbanks, 
Hughes, and Cannon, who were known as " the allies." They 
were not merely a minority, in the end they were not a united 
minority. 

Prior to the meeting of the convention the National Com- 
mittee took up the matter of contested seats. Most of the con- 
tests were of a frivolous nature ; a few had some basis. The 
decisions of the committee were almost uniformly in favor of 
the " regular" delegates, who were committed to Taft. There 
is no reason to think that the decisions were wrong, or even 
doubtful, although the ways of Republican conventions in the 
Southern States, whence nearly all the contests arose, are not 
always strictly fair and praiseworthy. The friends of candi- 
dates whose contesting delegates were rejected at first declared 
their purpose of carrying the matter before the full conven- 
tion, but ultimately they recognized the hopelessness of such 
a step, and refrained. 

There were of course differences over the platform, for the 
conservatives were not disposed to surrender their principles. 
The controversy, such as it was, came upon what was known 



170 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

as the "anti-inj unction " plank. The term was a misnomer, 
for it was not proposed to forbid injunctions in labor disputes, 
but to urge certain restrictions upon the issuance of writs of 
injunction. As it was finally adopted by probably two thirds of 
the Committee on Resolutions, it was not a particularly vigor- 
ous paragraph, but it was said to embody the views of Mr. 
Taft and the President, and was adopted on that account. 
The opposition was not directed so much against the principle 
stated, as against the recognition of the principle as a political 
issue. 

As was expected, there was an attempt to stampede the con- 
vention for Roosevelt, but if such a movement ever had a 
chance of success, that chance was thrown away prematurely. 
Senator Lodge, in his speech on taking the chair as President, 
made a most complimentary allusion to the President as "the 
best abused and the most popular man in the United States 
to-day. " Vigorous applause greeted the remark, and the ap- 
plause was quickly taken up by the throngs in the galleries. 
It did not cease, but was continued long after the delegates 
had quieted down. Still it continued. Whether the galleries 
were "packed" in any other sense than that of being uncom- 
fortably full, no one knows. Possibly the crowd was carried 
away by its own enthusiasm, born at the moment. Probably 
not one person in ten who applauded had heard distinctly the 
words he was cheering. At all events, the din lasted forty- 
six minutes. It had no effect upon the delegates. They had 
gone to Chicago to nominate Taft, and were not to be moved 
from their purpose by a gallery demonstration which might 
be spontaneous — and might not be. 

The platform was reported on the third day of the conven- 
tion, June 19, and after a discussion of unusual length was 
^.adopted. It was as follows : — 

Once more the Republican party, in national convention assem- 
bled, submits its cause to the people. This great historic organiza- 
tion that destroyed slavery, preserved the Union, restored credit, 
expanded the national domain, established a sound financial sys- 
tem, developed the industries and resources of the country, and 
gave to the nation her seat of honor in the councils of the world, 
now meets the new problems of government with the same courage 
and capacity with which it solved the old. 

In this the great era of American advancement the Republican 
party has reached its highest service under the leadership of 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 171 

Theodore Roosevelt. His administration is an epoch in American 
history. In no other period since national sovereignty was won 
under Washington, or preserved under Lincoln, has there been such 
mighty progress in those ideals of government which make for 
justice, equality, and fair dealing among men. The highest aspira- 
tions of the American people have found a voice. Their most 
exalted servant represents the best aims and worthiest purposes of 
all his countrymen. American manhood has been lifted to a nobler 
sense of duty and obligation. Conscience and courage in public sta- 
tion, and higher standards of right and wrong in private life have 
become cardinal principles of political faith ; capital and labor have 
been brought into closer relations of confidence and interdepend- 
ence, and the abuse of wealth, the tyranny of power, and all the 
evils of privilege and favoritism have been put to scorn by the 
simple, manly virtues of justice and fair play. 

The great accomplishments of President Roosevelt have been, 
first and foremost, a brave and impartial enforcement of the law, 
the prosecution of illegal trusts and monopolies, the exposure and 
punishment of evildoers in the public service, the more effective 
regulation of the rates and service of the great transportation 
lines, the complete overthrow of preferences, rebates, and discrimi- 
nations, the arbitration of labor disputes, the amelioration of the 
condition of wage-workers everywhere, the conservation of the na- 
tural resources of the country, the forward step in the improvement 
of the inland waterways, and always the earnest support and de- 
fence of every wholesome safeguard which has made more secure 
the guarantees of life, liberty, and property. 

These are the achievements that will make for Theodore Roose- 
velt his place in history, but more than all else the great things he 
has done will be an inspiration to those who have yet greater 
things to do. We declare our unfaltering adherence to the policies 
thus inaugurated, and pledge their continuance under a Republican 
administration of the government. 

Under the guidance of Republican principles the American peo- 
ple have become the richest nation in the world. Our wealth to- 
day exceeds that of England and all her colonies, and that of 
France and Germany combined. When the Republican party was 
born, the total wealth of the country was $16,000,000,000. It has 
leaped to $110,000,000,000 in a generation, while Great Britain has 
gathered but $60,000,000,000 in five hundred years. The United 
States now owns one fourth of the world's wealth and makes one 
third of all modern manufactured products. In the great necessities 
of civilization, such as coal, the motive power of all activity ; iron, 
the chief basis of all industry ; cotton, the staple foundation of all 
fabrics ; wheat, corn, and all the agricultural products that feed 



172 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

mankind, America's supremacy is undisputed. And yet her great 
natural wealth has been scarcely touched. We have a vast domain 
of 3,000,000 square miles, literally bursting with latent treasure, 
still waiting the magic of capital and industry to be converted to 
the practical uses of mankind ; a country rich in soil and climate, 
in the unharnessed energy of its rivers, and in all the varied pro- 
ducts of the field, the forest, and the factory. With gratitude for 
God's bounty, with pride in the splendid productiveness of the 
past, and with confidence in the plenty and prosperity of the future, 
the Republican party declares for the principle that in the de- 
velopment and enjoyment of wealth so great and blessings so 
benign there shall be equal opportunity for all. 

Nothing so clearly demonstrates the sound basis upon which 
our commercial, industrial, and agricultural interests are founded, 
and the necessity of promoting their continued welfare through the 
operation of Republican policies as the recent safe passage of the 
American people through a financial disturbance which, if appear- 
ing in the midst of Democratic rule or the menace of it, might 
have equalled the familiar Democratic panics of the past. We con- 
gratulate the people upon the renewed evidence of American su- 
premacy, and hail with confidence the signs now manifest of a 
complete restoration of business prosperity in all lines of trade, 
commerce, and manufacturing. 

Since the election of William McKinley, in 1896, the people of 
this country have felt anew the wisdom of intrusting to the 
Republican party, through decisive majorities, the control and 
direction of national legislation. The many wise and progressive 
measures adopted at recent sessions of Congress have demonstrated 
the patriotic resolve of Republican leadership in the legislative 
department to keep step in the forward march toward better gov- 
ernment. Notwithstanding the indefensible filibustering of a 
Democratic minority in the House of Representatives during the 
last session, many wholesome and progressive laws were enacted, 
and we especially commend the passage of the emergency currency 
bill ; the appointment of the national monetary commission ; the 
employers' and government liability laws ; the measures for the 
greater efficiency of the army and navy ; the widows' pension bill ; 
the child labor law for the District of Columbia ; the new statutes 
for the safety of railroad engineers and firemen ; and many other 
acts conserving the public welfare. 

\ The Republican party declares unequivocally for a revision of 
the tariff by a special session of Congress immediately following 
the inauguration of the next President, and commends the steps 
already taken to this end in the work assigned to the appropriate 
committees of Congress, which are now investigating the operation 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 173 

and effect of existing schedules. In all tariff legislation the true 
principle of protection is best maintained by the imposition of such 
duties as will equal the difference between the cost of production 
at home and abroad, together with a reasonable profit to American 
industries. We favor the establishment of maximum and mini-v 
mum rates to be administered by the President under limitations 
fixed by the law, the maximum to be available to meet discrimi- 
nations by foreign countries against American goods entering their 
markets, and the minimum to represent the normal measure of 
protection at home ; the aim and purpose of the Republican policy 
being not only to preserve, without excessive duties, that security 
against foreign competition to which American manufacturers, 
farmers, and producers are entitled, but also to maintain the high 
standard of living of the wage-earners of this country, who are 
the most direct beneficiaries of the protective system. Between 
the United States and the Philippines we believe in a free inter- . 
change of products with such limitations as to sugar and tobacco 
as will afford adequate protection to domestic interests. 

We approve the emergency measures adopted by the government 
during the recent financial disturbance, and especially commend 
the passage by Congress, at the last session, of the law designed to 
protect the country from a repetition of such stringency. The 
Republican party is committed to the development of a permanent 
currency system, responding to our greater needs, and the appoint- 
ment of the national monetary commission by the present Congress, 
which will impartially investigate all proposed methods, insures 
the early realization* of this purpose. The present currency laws 
have fully justified their adoption, but an expanding commerce, 
a marvellous growth in wealth and population, multiplying the 
centres of distribution, increasing the demand for the movement 
of crops in the West and South and entailing periodic changes in 
monetary conditions, disclose the need of a more elastic and 
adaptable system. Such a system must meet the requirements of 
agriculturists, manufacturers, merchants, and business men gen- 
erally, must be automatic in operation, minimizing the fluctuations 
in interest rates, and above all, must be in harmony with that 
Republican doctrine which insists that every dollar shall be based 
upon and as good as gold. 

We favor the establishment of a postal savings bank system for 
the convenience of the people and the encouragement of thrift. 

The Republican party passed the Sherman anti-trust law over 
Democratic opposition, and enforced it after Democratic derelic- 
tion. It has been a wholesome instrument for good in the hands of 
a wise and fearless administration. But experience has shown that 
its effectiveness can be strengthened and its real objects better 



174 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

attained by such amendments as will give to the federal govern- 
ment greater supervision and control over, and secure greater pub- 
licity in, the management of that class of corporations engaged 
in interstate commerce having power and opportunity to effect 
monopolies. 

We approve the enactment of the railroad rate law and the vigor- 
ous enforcement by the present administration of the statutes 
against rebates and discriminations, as a result of which the ad- 
vantages formerly possessed by the large shipper over the small 
shipper have substantially disappeared ; and in this connection we 
commend the appropriation by the present Congress to enable the 
Interstate Commerce Commission to thoroughly investigate, and 
give publicity to, the accounts of interstate railroads. We believe, 
however, that the interstate commerce law should be further 
amended so as to give railroads the right to make and publish 
traffic agreements subject to the approval of the commission, but 
maintaining always the principle of competition between naturally 
competing lines and avoiding the common control of such lines by 
any means whatsoever. We favor such national legislation and 
supervision as will prevent the future overissue of stocks and bonds 
by interstate carriers. 

The enactment in constitutional form at the present session of 
Congress of the employers^iability law, the passage and enforce- 
ment of the safety appliance statutes, as well as the additional 
protection secured for engineers and firemen ; the reduction in the 
hours of labor^of trainmen and railroad telegraphers, the success- 
ful exercise of the powers of mediation and arbitration between 
interstate railroads and their employes, and the law making a be- 
ginning in the policy of compensation for injured employes of the 
government, are among the most commendable accomplishments 
of the present administration. But there is further work in this 
direction yet to be done, and the Republican party pledges its con- 
tinued devotion to every cause that makes for safety and the bet- 
terment of conditions among those whose labor contributes so 
much to the progress and welfare of the country. 

The same wise policy which has induced the Republican party 
to maintain protection to American labor, to establish an eight- 
hour day in the construction of all public works, to increase the 
list of employes who shall have preferred claims for wages under 
the bankruptcy laws, to adopt a child labor statute for the District 
of Columbia, to direct an investigation into the condition of work- 
ing women and children, and, later, of employes of telephone and 
telegraph companie| engaged in interstate business ; to appropri- 
ate $150,000 at the recent session of Congress in order to secure 
a thorough inquiry into the causes of catastrophes and loss of life 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 175 

in the mines, and to amend and strengthen the law prohibiting the 
importation of contract labor, will be pursued in every legitimate 
direction within federal authority to lighten the burdens and in- 
crease the opportunity for happiness and advancement of all who 
toil. The Republican party recognizes the special needs of wage- 
workers generally, for their well-being means the well-being of all. 
But more important than all other considerations is that of good 
citizenship, and we especially stand for the needs of every Ameri- 
can, whatever his occupation, in his capacity as a self-respecting 
citizen. 

The Republican party will uphold at all times the authonty_and_ 
integrity of the courts, state and federal, and will ever insist that 
their powers to enforce their process and to protect life, liberty and 
property shall be preserved inviolate. We believe, however, that 
the rules of procedure in the federal courts with respect to the 
issuance of the writ of injunction should be more accurately de- 
fined by statute, and that no injunction or temporary restraining 
order should be issued without notice, except where irreparable 
injury would result from delay, in which case a speedy hearing 
thereafter should be granted. 

Among those whose welfare is as vital to the welfare of the whole 
country as is that of the wage-earner is the American farmer. The 
prosperity of the country rests peculiarly upon the prosperity of 
agriculture. The Republican party during the last twelve years has 
accomplished extraordinary work in bringing the resources of the 
national government to the aid of the farmer, not only in advanc- 
ing agriculture itself, but in increasing the conveniences of rural 
life. Free rural mail delivery has been established ; it now reaches 
millions of our citizens, and we favor its extension until every com- 
munity in the land receives the full benefits of the postal service. 
We recognize the social and economic advantages of good country 
roads, maintained more and more largely at public expense and less 
and less at the expense of the abutting owner. In this work we 
commend the growing practice of state aid, and we approve the 
efforts of the national Agricultural Department by experiments 
and otherwise to make clear to the public the best methods of road 
construction. 

The Republican party has been for more than fifty years ther 
consistent friend of the American negro. It gave him freedom and 
citizenship. It wrote into the organic law the declarations that 
proclaim his civil and political rights, and it believes to-day that 
his noteworthy progress in intelligence, industry, and good citizen- 
ship has earned the respect and encouragement of the nation. We 
demand equal justice for all men, without regard to race or color ; 
we declare once more, and without reservation, for the enforcement 



176 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

in letter and spirit of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth 
amendments to the Constitution, which were designed for the pro- 
tection and advancement of the negro, and we condemn all devices 
that have for their real aim his disfranchisement for reasons of 
color alone, as unfair, un-American, and repugnant to the supreme 
law of the land. 

We indorse the movement inaugurated by the administration 
for the conservation_of_natural resources ; we approve all measures 
to prevent the waste of timber ; we commend the work now going 
on for the reclamation of arid lands, and reaffirm the Republican 
policy of the free distribution of the available areas of the public 
domain to the landless settler. No obligation of the future is more 
insistent, and none will result in greater blessings to posterity. In 
line with this splendid undertaking is the further duty, equally 
imperative, to enter upon a systematic improvement upon a large 
and comprehensive plan, just to all portions of the country, of the 
waterways, harbors, and Great Lakes, whose natural adaptability 
to the increasing traffic of the land is one of the greatest gifts of a 
benign Providence. 

The present Congress passed many commendable acts increasing 
the efficiency of the army and navy ; making the militia of the 
states an integral part of the national establishment; authorizing 
joint manoeuvres of army and militia ; fortifying new naval bases 
and completing the construction of coaling stations; instituting a 
female nurse corps for naval hospitals and ships, and adding two 
new battleships, ten torpedo boat destroyers, three steam colliers 
and eight submarines to the strength of the navy. Although at 
peace with all the world, and secure in the consciousness that the 
American people do not desire and will not provoke a war with any 
other country, we nevertheless declare our unalterable devotion to 
a policy that will keep this Republic ready at all times to defend 
her traditional doctrines, and assure her appropriate part in pro- 
moting permanent tranquillity among the nations. 

We commend the vigorous efforts made by the administration 
to protect American citizens in foreign lands, and pledge ourselves 
to insist on the just and equal protection of all our citizens abroad. 
It is the unquestioned duty of the government to procure for all 
our citizens, without distinction, the rights of travel and sojourn 
,n friendly countries, and we declare ourselves in favor of all proper 
efforts tending to that end. 

Under the administration of the Republican party, the foreign 
commerce of the United States has experienced a remarkable 
growth, until it has a present annual valuation of approximately 
$3,000,000,000, and gives employment to a vast amount of labor and 
capital which would otherwise be idle. It has inaugurated through 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 177 

the recent visit of the Secretary of State to South America and 
Mexico anew era of Pan-American commerce and comity which is 
bringing us into closer touch with our twenty sister American 
republics, having a common historical heritage, a republican form 
of government, and offering us a limitless field of legitimate com- 
mercial expansion. 

The conspicuous contributions of American statesmanship to the 
great cause of international peace so signally advanced in the 
Hague conferences, are an occasion for just pride and gratification.^. 
At the last session of the Senate of the United States eleven Hague 
conventions were ratified, establishing the rights of neutrals, laws 
of war on land, restriction of submarine mines, limiting the use of 
force for the collection of contractual debts, governing the opening 
of hostilities, extending the application of Geneva principles, and 
in many ways lessening the evils of war and promoting the peace- 
ful settlement of international controversies. At the same session 
twelve arbitration conventions with great nations were confirmed, 
and extradition, boundary, and neutralization treaties of supreme 
importance were ratified. We indorse such achievements as the 
highest duty a people can perform, and proclaim the obligation of 
further strengthening the bonds of friendship and good-will with 
all the nations of the world. 

We adhere to the Republican doctrine of encouragement to 
American shipping, and urge such legislation as will revive the 
merchant marine prestige of the country, so essential to national 
defence, the enlargement of foreign trade, and the industrial pro- 
sperity of our own people. 

Another Republican policy which must ever be maintained is 
that of generous provision for those who have fought the country's 
battles, and for the widows and orphans of those who have fallen. 
We commend the increase in the widows' pensions, made by the 
present Congress, and declare for a liberal administration of all 
pension laws, to the end that the people's gratitude may grow 
deeper as the memories of heroic sacrifice grow more sacred with 
the passing years. 

We reaffirm our declarations that the Civil Service laws, enacted, 
extended, and enforced by the Republican party, shall continue to 
be maintained and obeyed. 

We commend the efforts designed to secure greater efficiency in 
national public health agencies, and favor such legislation as will 
effect this purpose. 

In the interest of the great mineral industries of our country, we 
earnestly favor the establishment of a bureau of mines and mining. 

The American government, in Republican hands, has freed 
Cuba, given peace and protection to Porto Rico and the Philip- 



178 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

pines under our flag, and begun the construction of the Panama 
Canal. The present conditions hi Cuba vindicate the wisdom of 
maintaining between that republic and this imperishable bonds 
of mutual interest, and the hope is now expressed that the Cuban 
people will soon again be ready to assume complete sovereignty 
over their land. 

In Porto Rico the government of the United States is meeting 
loyal and patriotic support ; order and prosperity prevail, and the 
well-being of the people is in every respect promoted and conserved. 

We believe that the native inhabitants of Porto Rico should be 
at once collectively made citizens of the United States, and that 
all others properly qualified under existing laws residing in said 
island should have the privilege of becoming naturalized. 

In the Philippines insurrection has been suppressed, law is estab- 
lished, and life and property are made secure. Education and prac- 
tical experience are there advancing the capacity of the people for 
government, and the policies of McKinley and Roosevelt are lead- 
ing the inhabitants step by step to an ever increasing measure of 
home rule. 

Time has justified the selection of the Panama route for the 
great isthmian canal, and events have shown the wisdom of secur- 
ing authority over the zone through which it is to be built. The 
work is now progressing with a rapidity far beyond expectation, 
and already the realization of the hopes of centuries has come 
within the vision of the near future. 

We favor the immediate admission of the territories of New 
Mexico and Arizona as separate states in the Union. 

February 12, 1909, will be the 100th anniversary of the birth of 
Abraham Lincoln, an immortal spirit, whose fame has brightened 
with the receding years, and whose name stands among the first of 
those given to the world by the great republic. We recommend 
that this centennial anniversary be celebrated throughout the con- 
fines of the nation by all the people thereof, and especially by the 
public schools as an exercise to stir the patriotism of the youth of 
the land. 

We call the attention of the American people to the fact that 
none of the great measures here advocated by the Republican party 
could be enacted, and none of the steps forward here proposed could 
betaken under a Democratic administration or under one in which 
party responsibility is divided. The continuance of present policies, 
therefore, absolutely requires the continuance in power of that 
party which believes in them and which possesses the capacity to 
put them into operation. 

Beyond all platform declarations there are fundamental differ- 
ences between the Republican party and its chief opponent which 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 179 

make the one worthy and the other unworthy of public trust. In 
history the difference between Democracy and Republicanism is 
that the one stood for debased currency, the other for honest cur- 
rency ; the one for free silver, the other for sound money ; the one 
for free trade, the other for protection ; the one for the contraction 
of American influence, the other for its expansion ; the one has 
been forced to abandon every position taken on the great issues 
before the people, the other has held and vindicated all. 

In experience the difference between Democracy and Republi- 
canism is that one means adversity, while the other means prosper- 
ity ; one means low wages, the other means high ; one means doubt 
and debt, the other means confidence and thrift. 

In principle the difference between Democracy and Republican- 
ism is that one stands for vacillation and timidity in government, 
the other for strength and purpose ; one stands for obstruction, the 
other for construction ; one promises, the other performs ; one finds 
fault, the other finds work. 

The present tendencies of the two parties are even more marked 
by inherent differences. The trend of Democracy is toward social- 
ism, while the Republican party stands for wise and regulated 
individualism. Socialism would destroy wealth, Republicanism 
would prevent its abuse. Socialism would give to each an equal 
right to take ; Republicanism would give to each an equal right to 
earn. Socialism would offer an equality of possession, which would 
soon leave no one anything to possess ; Republicanism would give 
equality of opportunity, which would assure to each his share of a 
constantly increasing sum of possessions. In line with this ten- 
dency the Democratic party of to-day believes in government 
ownership, while the Republican party believes in government 
regulation. Ultimately Democracy would have the nation own the 
people, while Republicanism would have the people own the nation. 

Upon this platform of principles and purposes, reaffirming our 
adherence to every Republican doctrine proclaimed since the birth 
of the party, we go before the country, asking the support not only 
of those who have acted with us heretofore, but of all our fellow 
citizens who, regardless of past political differences, unite in the 
desire to maintain the policies, perpetuate the blessings, and make 
secure the achievements of a greater America. 

A minority report was submitted by Mr. Cooper, of Wis- 
consin, the only member of the Committee on Resolutions 
who dissented from the platform. He was a representative of 
the views of Governor La Follette, who had succeeded in 
bringing the Republican party of Wisconsin to the support of 
a radical policy — radical, that is, in comparison with the gen- 



180 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

eral body of opinion in the party, and even more radical than 
the position of Mr. Roosevelt. Mr. Cooper proposed substitutes 
for many of the paragraphs in the majority report, and addi- 
tional paragraphs on subjects not mentioned in that report. 
The minority report thus expressed dissent on the planks re- 
lating to the tariff, to the " trusts," to the regulation of rail- 
road rates, and to the issuance of injunctions in labor cases, 
and it advocated a law requiring the publicity of campaign 
expenses, the physical valuation of railroads, an eight-hour 
law for all persons employed on public works, and the election 
of United States Senators by direct popular vote. After Mr. 
Cooper had advocated his minority report, a vote was taken 
on the substitute with the exception of these reserved para- 
graphs, and the substitute was rejected, ayes 28, noes 952. 
Twenty-five of the affirmative votes were given by Wisconsin. 
The paragraph relating to the publicity of campaign expenses 
was rejected, ayes 94, nays 880. That relating to the physical 
valuation of railroads was rejected, ayes 63, noes 917. That 
relating to the election of senators was rejected, ayes 114, 
noes 866. The platform as a whole was then adopted by a 
viva voce vote, with apparent although of course not absolute 
unanimity. 

Nominations for the office of President were next in order, 
and the names of Mr. Cannon, Mr. Fairbanks, Secretary Taft, 
Governor Hughes, Mr. Foraker, and Mr. La Follette were 
presented, with the usual demonstrations by the partisans of 
each. But that demonstration was varied when the name of 
Governor La Follette was presented. One of the persons in 
the assemblage held up a large portrait of the President, and 
immediately there was an outburst of applause which was 
long continued, even after the sergeant-at-arms had required 
the portrait to be taken down. Then a man in the gallery un- 
furled a large flag bearing a portrait of Mr. Roosevelt, and the 
uproar became greater than ever. Mr. Lodge directed the roll 
of States to be called, and roll-call began in the midst of the 
turmoil. The second attempt to stampede the convention failed. 
Mr. Taft was nominated on the first roll-call. The vote 
stood thus : — 

Whole number voting 979 

Necessary to a choice 490 

William H. Taft, of Ohio 702 

Philander C. Knox, of Pennsylvania 68 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 181 

Charles E. Hughes, of New York 67 

Joseph G. Cannon, of Illinois 58 

Charles W. Fairbanks, of Indiana 40 

Robert E. La Follette, of Wisconsin 25 

Joseph B. Foraker, of Ohio 16 

Theodore Roosevelt, of New York 3 

Mr. Taft had at least one vote from every State and Terri- 
tory except Indiana, which cast its full vote for Mr. Fairbanks, 
who had ten scattering votes from other States. Most of the 
other candidates received votes chiefly as "favorite sons." 
Thus Mr. Knox had only four votes from outside of Pennsyl- 
vania ; Mr. Hughes only two from outside of New York ; Mr. 
Cannon but seven from States other than Illinois; and Mr. 
La Follette's votes came from Wisconsin only. Save four votes 
for Mr. Foraker from Ohio, the rest were given by Southern 
delegates. Three Pennsylvanians gave Mr. Roosevelt their 
votes. The nomination of Mr. Taft was made unanimous. 

The nomination of a candidate for Vice-President was made 
on the fourth day of the convention. As the choice of Mr. 
Taft was assured long before the convention met, there was 
much canvassing by the friends of several candidates for the 
vice-presidency. Efforts were made to induce Mr. Fairbanks 
again to accept the second place on the ticket, but he stead- 
fastly refused. There was also a strong movement to nominate 
Governor Hughes, when his candidacy for the first place was 
seen to be hopeless, but he also declined peremptorily. The 
first roll-call resulted as follows : — 

Whole number voting 980 

Necessary to a choice 491 

James S. Sherman, of New York 816 

Franklin Murphy, of New Jersey 77 

Curtis Guild, Jr., of Massachusetts 75 

George L. Sheldon, of Nebraska 16 

Charles W. Fairbanks, of Indiana 1 

The nomination of Mr. Sherman was made unanimous, and 
the convention adjourned. 

The Socialist Labor Convention was held at New York, 
July 2. Twelve States were represented, and the number of 
delegates was twenty-three. E. Passams, of New York, was 
the permanent chairman, although he was elected and reelected 
day by day. On the first day of the convention a delegate from 



182 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

a local Socialist Club was received, who urged the convention 
to indorse the nomination of Mr. Debs. There was a long dis- 
cussion of the proposition, which no member of the convention 
supported, and in the end it was unanimously rejected. Two 
days were occupied in the determination of various matters 
concerning the policy of the party and in debate on propositions 
to amend its constitution. On the 5th of July the platform 
was adopted. Inasmuch as it was the platform of 1904 with- 
out any change whatever, it is omitted here. 1 When the nom- 
ination of candidates was in order, Mr. Daniel De Leon pre- 
sented the name of Martin B. Preston, of Nevada, as candidate 
for the office of President. The only reason for the selection 
which he gave was that Mr. Preston, when acting as " picket " 
for his labor union in a time of strike, had killed a man who 
opposed him, for which deed he was convicted and sentenced 
to a term of twenty-five years' imprisonment in the Nevada 
State prison. In 1908 he had completed three years of the 
term. Mr. De Leon also remarked that Preston was ten years 
under the constitutional age for holding the office, but he pre- 
dicted that if he were elected he would be allowed to enter 
upon the duties of the office. The report of the convention in 
the official organ of the party says that the nomination was 
unanimously approved " with indescribable enthusiasm." The 
business of the convention was completed by the nomination 
of Donald L. Munro, of Virginia, as a candidate for Vice- 
President. In consequence of the ineligibility of the candidate 
for President, August Gilhaus, of New York, was afterward 
placed at the head of the ticket. 

The Democratic Convention was held, July 7-10, at Den- 
ver, the most western point at which a national political con- 
vention has been held. Both the preliminaries and the proceed- 
ings of the Convention were of unusual interest. Theodore A. 
Bell, of Colorado, was the temporary chairman, and Henry D. 
Clayton of Alabama, the permanent president. 

Although the nomination of Mr. Bryan was as fully assured 
as any future event could be, there was earnest and even vio- 
lent opposition to him by the conservative element, represented 
by the supporters of Judge Gray, of Delaware, and of Gov- 
ernor Johnson, of Minnesota. They hoped against hope. They 
urged that Mr. Bryan had less than the necessary two thirds 
1 See page 112. 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 183 

of pledged delegates, that Mr. Bryan could not be elected, and 
that when the first vote should show him to have less than the 
requisite majority, the delegates would turn to one or the other 
of the opposing candidates. Although they put forward the ar- 
gument with confidence and pertinacity, they allowed doubters 
to suspect that confidence by suggesting ever and anon that if 
Mr. Bryan should be chosen it would be well to balance the 
ticket by placing either Judge Gray or Governor Johnson 
upon it as the candidate for the second place. But both those 
gentlemen refused in the most emphatic terms to be considered 
for the vice-presidency, and were forced by the persistence of 
their advocates to repeat the refusal, time and again. 

The issue, so far as the nomination of Mr. Bryan was con- 
cerned, was so generally taken for granted that most of the 
leading delegates, and large numbers of the rank and file, made 
the journey westward by way of Lincoln, Nebraska, Mr. Bry- 
an's home, and consulted with him about the other matters to 
be considered by the convention. It was recognized as alto- 
gether desirable that both his " running mate " and the declar- 
ation of principles in the platform should be thoroughly accept- 
able to him. In the end this was effected. The language of the 
platform on points about which there was some controversy, 
was submitted to him before being read to the convention, and 
he is understood to have indicated his choice of the candidate 
ultimately selected for the vice-presidency. 

Several days before the opening of the convention, while 
the delegates were gathering at Denver, an angry controversy 
broke out over a proposition to pass a resolution laudatory of 
President Cleveland, whose death occurred on June 24, a fort- 
night before the meeting of the convention. Judge Parker, 
who had been the candidate of the party in 1904, let it be 
known that he had prepared such a resolution, which was to 
be offered at the close of the first day's session. The text of 
the resolution was published and excited the liveliest indigna- 
tion of the supporters of Mr. Bryan, for the statements it con- 
tained that Mr. Cleveland " respected the integrity of the 
courts," and " maintained the public credit, and stood firm as 
a rock in defence of sound principles of finance," were re- 
garded as open attacks upon Mr. Bryan and his attitude on 
two matters of public policy. Judge Parker denied that he had 
any purpose of assailing Mr. Bryan, but those in control of 
affairs took the very proper position that phrases capable of 



184 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

bearing the interpretation Mr. Bryan's friends put upon them, 
should not appear in a resolution to be considered by the con- 
vention. They therefore determined that an unobjectionable 
resolution should be prepared and presented by some person 
other than Judge Parker. The plan was carried out. When 
the resolution was offered on the first day of the Convention, 
Judge Parker was called to his feet by cries from delegates, 
and read a mild and inoffensive draft which he had intended 
to offer, if the chairman had recognized him, but he did not 
offer it and contented himself with seconding that already before 
the Convention, which was unanimously adopted. 

Three most important matters caused great and prolonged 
discussion both without and within the convention : the vice- 
presidency, the decision as to contested seats, and the platform. 
There were receptive candidates for the second place on the 
ticket from a dozen or more of the States, beside the two ob- 
durately non-receptive candidates already named, who were 
nevertheless urged with unyielding persistence. But the con- 
troversy over that nomination gradually died out as it became 
universally admitted that the final choice must be made by 
Mr. Bryan himself. 

The contested seats were many. Idaho sent two sets of del- 
egates, — one " anti-Mormon," — the other, of course, not 
" Mormon," but opposed to the programme of the "anti- Mor- 
mon " set. There was a contest in Illinois which involved a 
question of the leadership of the party in the State. Similarly 
a contest over the delegates from the districts in Brooklyn, New 
York, was really between Tammany Hall and the local leader. 
The most interesting of all were contests in Pennsylvania, 
where the leadership of Colonel J. M. GufFey was at stake. 
There had been and still was a violent personal controversy 
between Mr. Bryan and Col. GufFey. The National Committee, 
as was customary, heard the parties to the several contests and 
made the preliminary roll of the convention, but the commit- 
tee on credentials devoted no less than seventeen hours to 
hearing and determining the contests. In two of the cases 
the committee, and the convention which adopted its conclu- 
sions, seem to have taken the wish of a majority of the dele- 
gates, and consulted Mr. Bryan's interests, rather than regarded 
the facts of the election, as their guide. At all events, Tam- 
many was victorious in the Brooklyn case, and Colonel Guffey's 
delegates were excluded. If less than justice was done in these 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 185 

cases, the same thing may be said of a long series of unjust 
decisions of contested seats in Congress and in every State 
Legislature. And after all no result was changed by the de- 
cisions. 

A much more important matter required to be decided out- 
side the convention proper. The platform of a party is usually 
accepted without discussion upon being reported by the Com- 
mittee on Resolutions. From a party point of view it is ex- 
tremely desirable that it should be so. It is of course a pure 
fiction that a platform expresses the opinions of all members 
of the party which adopts it, even upon the " paramount " 
issues of the day. Multitudes of free silver men voted for 
McKinley in 1896, and other multitudes of gold standard men 
supported Bryan. Nevertheless it is a recognized principle of 
party strategy to construct platforms in such a way as to avoid 
alienating a large body of voters, to employ language just 
strong enough and just vague enough to satisfy both factions 
in cases where there is a division of sentiment, and above all 
to avert the catastrophe of a revelation of division by having 
the controversy brought upon the floor of the convention. 
There was a serious contest in the Denver convention, as there 
had been in the Republican convention at Chicago, over the 
attitude of the party toward injunctions in cases arising out 
of labor disputes. It was confidently announced prior to the 
assembling of the delegates that the platform would follow 
closely the phraseology of the resolutions adopted in March, 
1908, by the Nebraska Democratic State convention, which 
were understood to represent Mr. Bryan's personal views. The 
salient points of the declaration were a demand that in all such 
cases writs of injunction should not issue except after notice to 
the defendants and a hearing ; that trial for contempt might 
be taken by another judge than the one who issued the injunc- 
tion ; and that there should be a trial by jury when the alleged 
contempt was committed not in the presence of the court. Rep- 
resentatives of organized labor were in attendance urging the 
adoption of the foregoing or even stronger language ; and there 
was strenuous opposition. As will be seen the resolution ulti- 
mately agreed upon was quite different in form from the 
Nebraska platform, but all parties expressed themselves as 
satisfied. 

There were few incidents of the convention proceedings that 
call for notice. Mention of the name of Mr. Bryan by Senator 



186 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Gore, of Oklahoma, was followed by applause which lasted 
eighty-seven minutes, substantially twice as long as the Roose- 
velt demonstration at Chicago, and much the longest cheer 
ever heard in a national convention. The platform committee 
was so long a time engaged in completing its work, that at the 
evening session of Thursday, the 9th, the nominating speeches 
for a candidate for the presidency were made before the plat- 
form was reported. 1 Mr. Bryan, Judge Gray, and Governor 
Johnson were placed in nomination. There was another full 
hour of applause when Mr. Bryan was named by Mr. Dunn, 
of Nebraska, who made the nominating speech. 

The Committee on Resolutions reported at midnight. The 
reading of the platform occupied nearly an hour. The platform 
was unanimously adopted as follows : — 

— - We, the representatives of the Democrats of the United States, 
in national convention assembled, reaffirm our belief in, and pledge 
our loyalty to, the principles of the party. 

We rejoice at the increasing signs of an awakening throughout 
the country. The various investigations have traced graft and po- 
litical corruption to the representatives of predatory wealth, and 
laid bare the unscrupulous methods by which they have debauched 
elections and preyed upon a defenceless public through the sub- 
servient officials whom they have raised to place and power. 

The conscience of the nation is now aroused to free the govern- 
ment from the grip of those who have made it a business asset of 
the favor-seeking corporations ; it must become again a people's 
government, and be administered in all its departments according 
to the Jefferson ian maxim, " Equ al rig hts to all and special privi- 
leges to none." 

"Shall the people rule?" is the overshadowing issue which 
manifests itself in all the questions now under discussion. 

The Republican Congress in session just ended has made appro- 
priations amounting to $1,008,000,000, exceeding the total expendi- 
tures of the last fiscal year by $90,000,000, and leaving a deficit of 
more than $60,000,000 for the fiscal year. We denounce the need- 
less waste of the people's money which has resulted in this appal- 
ling increase as a shameful violation of all prudent conditions of 
government, as no less than a crime against the millions of work- 
ing men and women, from whose earnings the great proportion of 
these colossal sums must be extorted through excessive tariff ex- 
actions and other indirect methods. It is not surprising that, in the 

1 Although the official report of the convention, in book form, represents 
that the platform was presented and adopted before the nominating speeches 
were made. 






THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 187 

face of this shocking record, the Republican platform contains no 
reference to economical administration or promise thereof in the 
future. We demand that a stop be put to this frightful extravag- 
ance, and insist upon the strictest economy in every department 
compatible with frugal and efficient administration. 

Coincident with the enormous increase in expenditures is a like 
addition to the number of officeholders. During the last year 23,784 
were added, costing 116,156,000, and in the last six years of the 
Republican administration the total number of new offices created, 
aside from many commissions, has been 99,319, entailing an ad^ 
ditional expenditure of nearly $70,000,000, as against only 10,279 
new offices created under the Cleveland and McKinley administra- 
tions, which involved an expenditure of only $6,000,000. We de- 
nounce this great and growing increase in the number of office- 
holders as not only unnecessary and wasteful, but also as clearly 
indicating a deliberate purpose on the part of the Administration 
to keep the Republican party in power at public expense by thus 
increasing the number of its retainers and dependents. Such pro- 
cedure we declare to be no less dangerous and corrupt than the 
open purchase of votes at the polls. 

The House of Representatives was designed by the fathers of the 
Constitution to be the popular branch of our government, respons- 
ive to the public will. 

The House of Representatives, as controlled in recent years by 
the Republican party, has ceased to be a deliberative and execu- 
tive body, responsive to the will of a majority of its members, but 
has come under the absolute domination of the Speaker, who has 
entire control of its deliberations and powers of legislation. 

We have observed with amazement the popular branch of our 
federal government helpless to obtain either the consideration or 
enactment of measures desired by a majority of its members. 

Legislative government becomes a failure when one member, in 
the person of the Speaker, is more powerful than the entire body. 

We demand that the House of Representatives shall again be- 
come a deliberative body, controlled by a majority of the people's 
representatives and not by the Speaker, and we pledge ourselves 
to adopt such rules and regulations to govern the House of Repre- 
sentatives as will enable a majority of its members to direct its 
deliberations and control legislation. 

We condemn as a violation of the spirit of our institutions the 
action of the present Chief Executive in using the patronage of his 
high office to secure the nomination of one of his Cabinet officers. 
A forced succession in the Presidency is scarcely less repugnant to 
public sentiment than is life tenure in that office. No good inten- 
tion on the part of the Executive, and no virtue in the one selected 



188 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

can justify the establishment of a dynasty. The right of the people 
freely to select their officials is inalienable and cannot be delegated. 

We demand federal legislation forever terminating the partner- 
ship which has existed between corporations of the country and 
the Republican party under the expressed or implied agreement 
that in return for the contribution of great sums of money, where- 
with to purchase elections, they should be allowed to continue 
substantially unmolested in their efforts to encroach upon the 
rights of the people. 

Any reasonable doubt as to the existence of this relation has 
been forever dispelled by the sworn testimony of witnesses ex- 
amined in the insurance investigation in New York and the open 
admission, unchallenged by the Republican National Committee, 
of a single individual that he himself, at the personal request of 
the Republican candidate for the Presidency, raised more than a 
quarter of a million of dollars to be used in a single State during 
the closing hours of the last campaign. In order that this practice 
shall be stopped for all time we demand the passage of a statute 
punishing with imprisonment any officer of a corporation who 
shall either contribute on behalf of or consent to the contribution 
by corporations of any money or thing of value to be used in fur- 
thering the election of a President or Vice-President of the United 
States or of any member of Congress thereof. 

We denounce the Republican party, having complete control of 
the Federal Government, for its failure to pass the bill introduced 
in the last Congress to compel the publication of the names of con- 
tributors and the amounts contributed toward Congress funds, and 
point to the evidence of their insincerity when they sought by an 
absolutely irrelevant and impossible amendment to defeat the pass- 
age of the bill. As a further evidence of their intention to conduct 
their campaign in the coming contest with vast sums of money 
wrested from favor-seeking corporations, we call attention to the 
fact that the recent Republican National Convention at Chicago 
refused, when the plank was presented to it, to declare against such 
practices. 

We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law pre- 
venting any corporation contributing to a campaign fund, and any 
individual from contributing an amount above a reasonable maxi- 
mum, and providing for the publication before election of all such 
contributions. 

Believing, with Jefferson, in "the support of the State Govern- 
ments in all their rights as the most competent administration for 
our domestic concerns and the surest bulwark against anti-Repub- 
lican tendencies," and in " the preservation of the general govern- 
ment in its whole constitutional vigor as the sheet anchor of our 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 189 

peace at home and safety abroad," we are opposed to the central- 
ization implied in the suggestions, now frequently made, that the 
powers of the general government should be extended by judicial 
construction. There is no twilight zone between the Nation and the 
State in which exploiting interests can take refuge from both ; and 
it is as necessary that the Federal Government shall exercise the 
powers delegated to it as it is that the State Governments shall use 
the authority reserved to them, but we insist that Federal reme- 
dies for the regulation of interstate commerce and for the preven- 
tion of private monopoly shall be added to, not substituted for, 
State remedies. 

We welcome the belated promise of tariff reform now affected 
by the Republican party in tardy recognition of the righteousness 
of the Democratic position on this question, but the people cannot 
safely trust the execution of this important work to a party which 
is so deeply obligated to the highly protected interests as is the 
Republican party. We call attention to the significant fact that the 
promised relief was postponed until after the coming election — an 
election to succeed in which the Republican party must have that 
same support from the beneficiaries of the high protective tariff 
as it has always heretofore received from them ; and to the further 
fact that during years of uninterrupted power no action whatever 
has been taken by the Republican Congress to correct the admit- 
tedly existing tariff iniquities. 

We favor immediate revision of the tariff by the reduction of 
import duties. Articles entering into competition with trust con- 
trolled products should be placed upon the free list, and material 
reductions shall be made in the tariff upon the necessaries of life, 
especially upon articles competing with such American manufac- 
tures as are sold abroad more cheaply than at home, and gradu- 
ated reductions should be made in such other schedules as may be 
necessary to restore the tariff to a revenue basis. 

Existing duties have given to the manufacturers of paper a 
shelter behind which they have organized combinations to raise 
the price of pulp and of paper, thus imposing a tax upon the spread 
of knowledge. We demand the immediate repeal of the tariff on 
pulp, print paper, lumber, timber and logs, and that these articles 
be placed upon the free list. 

A private monopoly is indefensible and intolerable. We there- 
fore favor the vigorous enforcement of the criminal law against 
guilty trust magnates and officials, and demand the enactment of 
such additional legislation as may be necessary to make it impos- 
sible for a private monopoly to exist in the United States. Among 
the additional remedies we specify three : First, a law preventing 
a duplication of directors among competing corporations ; second, 



190 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

a license system which will, without abridging the right of each 
State to create corporations or its right to regulate as it will for- 
eign corporations doing business within its limits, make it neces- 
sary for a manufacturing or trading corporation engaged in inter- 
state commerce to take out a Federal license before it shall be 
permitted to control as much as 25 per cent, of the product in 
which it deals, a license to protect the public from watered stock, 
and to prohibit the control by such corporation of more than 50 
per cent, of the total amount of any product consumed in the 
United States ; and, third, a law compelling such licensed corpo- 
rations to sell to all purchasers in all parts of the country ou the 
same terms after making due allowance for cost of transportation. 

We assert the right of Congress to exercise complete control over 
interstate commerce and the right of each State to exercise like 
control over commerce within its borders. 

We demand such enlargement of the powers of the Interstate 
Commerce Commission as may be necessary to enable it to com- 
pel railroads to perform their duties as common carriers and pre- 
vent discrimination and extortion. 

We favor the efficient supervision and rate regulation of rail- 
roads engaged in interstate commerce ; to this end we recommend 
the valuation of railroads by the Interstate Commerce Commis- 
sion, such valuation to take into consideration the physical value 
of the property, the original cost of production, and all elements of 
value that will render the valuation fair and just. 

We favor such legislation as will prohibit the railroads from 
engaging in business which brings them into competition with 
their shippers ; also legislation which will assure such reduction in 
transportation rates as conditions will permit, care being taken to 
avoid reduction that would compel a reduction of wages, prevent 
adequate service, or do justice to legitimate investments. 

We heartily approve the laws prohibiting the pass and the rebate, 
and we favor any further legislation to restrain, correct and pre- 
vent such abuses. 

We favor such legislation as will increase the power of the 
Interstate Commerce Commission, giving to it the initiative with 
reference to rates and transportation charges put into effect by the 
railroad companies, and permitting the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission, on its own initiative, to declare a rate illegal and as being 
more than should be charged for such service ; that the present law 
relating thereto is inadequate by reason of the fact that the Inter- 
state Commerce Commission is without power to fix or investigate 
a rate until complaint has been made to it by the shipper. 

We further declare that all agreements of traffic or other associ- 
ations of railway agents affecting interstate rates, service, or classi- 






THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 191 

fication shall be unlawful unless filed with and approved by the 
Interstate Commerce Commission. 

We favor the enactment of a law giving to the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission the power to inspect proposed railroad tariff 
rates or schedules before they shall take effect, and if they be found 
to be unreasonable to initiate an adjustment thereof. 

The panic of 1907, coming without any legitimate excuse, when 
the Republican party had for a decade been in complete control of 
the federal government, furnishes additional proof that it is either 
unwilling or incompetent to protect the interests of the general 
public. It has so linked the country to Wall Street that the sins of 
the speculators are visited upon the whole people. While refusing 
to rescue wealth producers from spoliation at the hands of the 
stock gamblers and speculators in farm products, it has deposited 
Treasury funds, without interest and without competition, in fav- 
orite banks. It has used an emergency for which it is largely re- 
sponsible to force through Congress a bill changing the basis of 
bank currency and inviting market manipulation, and has failed 
to give to the 15,000,000 depositors of the country protection in 
their savings. 

We believe that in so far as the needs of commerce require an 
emergency currency such currency should be issued, controlled by 
the federal government, and loaned on adequate security to national 
and state banks. We pledge ourselves to legislation under which 
the national banks shall be required to establish a guarantee fund 
for the prompt payment of the depositors of any insolvent national 
bank under an equitable system which shall be available to all state 
banking institutions which wish to use it. 

We favor a postal savings bank if the guaranteed bank cannot 
be secured, and that it be constituted so as to keep the deposited 
money in the communities where it is established. But we condemn 
the policy of the Republican party in proposing postal savings 
banks under a plan of conduct by which they will aggregate the 
deposits of rural communities and redeposit the same while under 
government charge in the banks of Wall Street, thus depleting the 
circulating medium of the producing regions and unjustly favoring 
the speculative markets. 

We favor an income tax as part of our revenue system, and we 
urge the submission of a constitutional amendment specifically 
authorizing Congress to levy and collect a tax upon individual and 
corporate incomes, to the end that wealth may bear its proportion- 
ate share of the burdens of the Federal Government. 

The courts of justice are the bulwark of our liberties, and we 
yield to none in our purpose to maintain their dignity. Our party 
has given to the bench a long line of distinguished judges, who 



192 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

have added to the respect and confidence in which this department 
must be jealously maintained. We resent the attempt of the Re- 
publican party to raise issues respecting the judiciary. It is an un- 
just reflection upon a great body of our citizens to assume that they 
lack respect for the courts. 

It is the function of the courts to interpret the laws which the 
people create, and if the laws appear to work economic, social, or 
political injustice, it is our duty to change them. The only basis 
upon which the integrity of our courts can stand is that of unswerv- 
ing justice and protection of life, personal liberty, and property. If 
judicial processes may be abused, we should guard them against 
abuse. 

Experience has proved the necessity of a modification of the 
present law relating to injunctions, and we reiterate the pledge of 
our national platforms of 1896 and 1904 in favor of the measure 
which passed the United States Senate in 1896, but which a Re- 
publican Congress has ever since refused to enact, relating to con- 
tempts in federal courts and providing for trial by jury in cases of 
indirect contempt. 

Questions of judicial practice have arisen, especially in connection 
with industrial disputes. We deem that the parties to all judicial 
proceedings should be treated with rigid impartiality, and that in- 
junctions should not be issued in any cases in which injunctions 
would not issue if no industrial dispute were involved. 

The expanding organization of industry makes it essential that 
there should be no abridgement of the right of wage-earners and 
producers to organize for the protection of wages and the improve- 
ment of labor conditions, to the end that such labor organizations 
and their members should not be regarded as illegal combinations 
in restraint of trade. 

We favor the eight-hour day on all government work. 

We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law by 
Congress, as far as the federal jurisdiction extends, for a general 
employers' liability act, covering injury to body or loss of life of 
employes. 

We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law creat- 
ing a Department of Labor, represented separately in the Presid- 
ent's Cabinet, which department shall include the subject of mines 
and mining. 

We believe in the upbuilding of the American and merchant 
marine without new or additional burdens upon the people and 
without bounties from the public Treasury. 

The constitutional provision that a navy shall be provided and 
maintained means an adequate navy, and we believe that the in- 
terests of this country would be best served by having a navy suffi- 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 193 

cient to defend the coasts of this country, and protect American 
citizens wherever their rights may be in jeopardy. 

We pledge ourselves to insist upon the just and lawful protection 
of our citizens at home and abroad, and to use all proper methods 
to secure for them, whether native born or naturalized, and with- 
out distinction of race or creed, the equal protection of law and the 
enjoyment of all rights and privileges open to them under our 
treaty ; and if, under existing treaties, the right of travel and so- 
journ is denied to American citizens, or recognition is withheld 
from American passports by any countries on the ground of race or 
creed, we favor prompt negotiations with the governments of such 
countries to secure the removal of these unjust discriminations. 

We demand that all over the world a duly authorized passport 
issued by the government of the United States to an American 
citizen shall be proof of the fact that he is an American citizen 
and shall entitle him to the treatment due him as such. 

The laws pertaining to the Civil Service should be honestly and 
rigidly enforced to the end that merit and ability shall be the 
standard of appointment and promotion rather than services 
rendered to a political party. 

We favor a generous pension policy, both as a matter of justice 
to the surviving veterans and their dependents, and because it 
tends to relieve the country of the necessity of maintaining a large 
standing army. 

We advocate the organization of all existing national public 
health agencies into a national bureau of public health, with such 
power over sanitary conditions connected with factories, mines, 
tenements, child labor, and such other subjects as are properly 
within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government and do not 
interfere with the power of the states controlling public health 
agencies. 

The Democratic party favors the extension of agricultural, me- 
chanical, and industrial education. We therefore favor the estab- 
lishment of district agricultural experiment stations, the secondary 
agricultural and mechanical colleges in the several states. 

We favor the election of United States senators by direct vote 
of the people, and regard this reform as the gateway to other 
national reforms. 

We welcome Oklahoma to the sisterhood of states, and heartily 
congratulate her on the auspicious beginning of a great career. 

We believe that the Panama Canal will prove of great value to 
our country, and favor its speedy completion. 

The national Democratic party has for the last sixteen years 
labored for the admission of Arizona and New Mexico as separate 
States of the Federal Union, and recognizing that each possesses 



194 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

every qualification to successfully maintain separate State govern- 
ments, we favor the immediate admission of these Territories as 
separate States. 

The establishment of rules and regulations, if any such are 
necessary, in relation to free grazing upon the public lands outside 
of forest or other reservations until the same shall eventually be 
disposed of should be left to the people of the States respectively 
in which such lands may be situated. 

Water furnishes the cheapest means of transportation, and the 
National Government, having the control of navigable waters, 
should improve them to their fullest capacity. We earnestly favor 
the immediate adoption of a liberal and comprehensive plan for 
improving every watercourse in the Union which is justified by the 
needs of commerce, and to secure that end we favor, when practi- 
cable, the connection of the Great Lakes with the navigable rivers 
and with the Gulf through the Mississippi River, and the navi- 
gable rivers with each other, and the rivers, bays, and sounds of 
our coasts with each other by artificial canals, with a view to per- 
fecting a system of inland waterways, to be navigated by vessels of 
standard draught. 

We favor the coordination of the various services of the Gov- 
ernment connected with waterways in one service, for the purpose 
of aiding in the completion of such a system of inland waterways ; 
and we favor the creation of a fund ample for continuous work, 
which shall be conducted under the direction of a commission of 
experts to be authorized by law. 

We favor Federal aid to State and local authorities in the con- 
struction and maintenance of post roads. 

We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law to 
regulate, under the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission, the rates and services of telegraph and telephone com- 
panies engaged in the transmission of messages between the 
States. 

We repeat the demand for internal development and for the 
conservation of our natural resources contained in previous plat- 
forms, the enforcement of which Mr. Roosevelt has vainly sought 
from a reluctant party, and to that end we insist upon the pre- 
servation, protection, and replacement of needed forests, the pre- 
servation of the public domain for homeseekers, the protection of 
the national resources in timber, coal, iron, and oil against mon- 
opolistic control ; the development of our waterways for naviga- 
tion and every other useful purpose, including the irrigation of 
arid lands, the reclamation of swamp lands, the clarification of 
streams, the development of water power and the preservation 
of electric power generated by this natural force from the control 



THE ERA OF « PROGRESSIVE " INSURGENCY 195 

of monopoly ; and to such end we urge the exercise of all powers, 
national, State, and municipal, both separately and in coopera- 
tion. 

We insist upon a policy of administration of our forest reserve 
which shall relieve it of the abuses which have arisen thereunder, 
and which shall, as far as practicable, conform to the police regula- 
tions of the several States where they are located, which shall 
enable homesteaders as of right to occupy and acquire title to all 
portions thereof which are especially adapted to agriculture, and 
which shall furnish a system of timber sales available as well to 
the private citizen as to the larger manufacturer and consumer. 

We favor the application of principles of land laws of the United 
States to our newly acquired territory, Hawaii, to the end that the 
public lands of that territory may be held and utilized for the 
benefit of bona-fide homesteaders. 

We condemn the experiment in imperialism as an inexcusable 
blunder which has involved us in enormous expense, brought us 
weakness instead of strength, and laid our nation open to the 
charge of abandoning a fundamental doctrine of self-government. 
We favor an immediate declaration of the nation's purpose to re- 
cognize the independence of the Philippine Islands as soon as a 
stable government can be established, such independence to be 
guaranteed by us as we guarantee the independence of Cuba, until 
the neutralization of the islands can be secured by treaty with 
other powers. In recognizing the independence of the Philippines 
our government should retain such land as may be necessary for 
coaling stations and naval bases. 

We demand for the people of Alaska and Porto Rico the full 
enjoyment of the rights and privileges of a territorial form of gov- 
ernment. The officials appointed to administer the government of 
all our territories and the District of Columbia should be thor- 
oughly qualified by previous bona-fide residence. 

The Democratic party recognizes the importance and advantage 
of developing closer ties of Pan-American friendship and com- 
merce between the United States and her sister nations of Latin 
America, and favors the taking of such steps, consistent with 
Democratic policies, for better acquaintance, greater mutual con- 
fidence, and larger exchange of trade, as will bring lasting benefit 
not only to the United States, but to this group of American 
Republics, having constitutions, forms of government, ambitions 
and interests akin to our own. 

We favor full protection, by both national and State govern- 
ments, within their respective spheres, of all foreigners residing in 
the United States under treaty, but we are opposed to the admis- 
sion of. Asiatic immigrants who cannot be amalgated with our 



196 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

population, or whose presence among us would raise a race issue 
and involve us in diplomatic controversies with Oriental powers. 

We believe that where an American citizen holding a patent in 
a foreign country is compelled to manufacture under his patent 
within a certain time similar restrictions should be applied in this 
country to the citizens or subjects of such a country. 

The Democratic party stands for democracy ; the Republican has 
drawn to itself all that is aristocratic and plutocratic. 

The Democratic party is the champion of civil rights and oppor- 
tunities to all ; the Republican party is the party of privileges and 
private monopoly. The Democratic party listens to the voice of 
the whole people and gauges progress by the prosperity and ad- 
vancement of the average man : the Republican party is subservi- 
ent to the comparatively few who are the beneficiaries of govern- 
mental favoritism. We invite the cooperation of all, regardless of 
previous political affiliation or past differences, who desire to pre- 
serve a government of the people by the people and for the people, 
and who favor such an administration of the government as will 
insure, as far as human wisdom can, that each citizen shall draw 
from society a reward commensurate with his contribution to the 
welfare of society. 

The platform having been adopted unanimously without dis- 
cussion, a further resolution . was moved from the floor, and 
adopted, urging an appropriate celebration of the one hundredth 
anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, on February 12, 
1909. The convention then proceeded to make nomination of 
candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President of the 
United States. The vote on the nomination of a candidate for 
President was as follows : — 

Whole number of votes 1 994 

Necessary for a choice (two thirds) 666 

William J. Bryan, of Nebraska 888£ 

George Gray, of Delaware 59^ 

John A. Johnson, of Minnesota 46 

The nomination of Mr. Bryan was then made unanimous, 
and the convention adjourned — at a quarter before four o'clock 
in the morning, after a continuous session of nearly nine hours. 

The business was concluded in the afternoon of the same day, 
Friday the 10th. Nominating speeches for a candidate for Vice- 
President were made in favor of John W. Kern, of Indiana, 
Charles A. Towne, of New York, Archibald McNeil, of Con- 
l Eight delegates not voting. 






THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 197 

necticut, and Clark Howell, of Georgia. All the names except 
that of Mr. Kern were subsequently withdrawn, and he was 
nominated by acclamation. 

The convention of the Prohibition party was held at Colum- 
bus, beginning on July 15. Robert E. Patton, of Illinois, was 
the temporary chairman, and Charles Scanlon, of Pennsylvania, 
the permanent president. Thirty-seven States were represented 
by 1126 delegates. 

The proceedings were enlivened only by a somewhat ani- 
mated controversy among the delegates whether or not woman 
suffrage should be explicitly advocated, — the outcome of which 
may be seen in the thirteenth plank of the platform, — and by 
the canvassing for a multiplicity of candidates for the head of 
the ticket. The platform, which is of almost unexampled brev- 
ity, was as follows : — 

The Prohibition party of the United States, assembled in con- 
vention at Columbus, Ohio, July 15-16, 1908, expressing gratitude 
to Almighty God for the victories of our principles in the past, for 
encouragement at present, and for confidence in early and tri- 
umphant success in the future, makes the following declaration of 
principles, and pledges their enactment into law when placed in 
power : — 

1. The submission by Congress to the several States, of an 
amendment to the Federal constitution prohibiting the manufac- 
ture, sale, importation, exportation, or transportation of alcoholic 
liquors for beverage purposes. 

2. The immediate prohibition of the liquor traffic for beverage 
purposes in the District of Columbia, in the Territories, and all 
places over which the National Government has jurisdiction ; the 
repeal of the internal revenue tax on alcoholic liquors and the 
prohibition of interstate traffic therein. 

3. The election of United States Senators by direct vote of the 
people. 

4. Equitable graduated income and inheritance taxes. 

5. The establishment of postal savings banks and the guaranty 
of deposits in banks. 

6. The regulation of all corporations doing an interstate com- 
merce business. 

7. The creation of a permanent tariff commission. 

8. The strict enforcement of law instead of official tolerance and 
practical license of the social evil which prevails in many of our 
cities, with its unspeakable traffic in girls. 

9. Uniform marriage and divorce laws. 



198 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

10. An equitable and constitutional employers' liability act. 

11. Court review of Post-Office Department decisions. 

12. The prohibition of child labor in mines, workshops, and 
factories. 

13. Legislation basing suffrage only upon intelligence and ability 
to read and write the English language. 

14. The preservation of the mineral and forest resources of the 
country, and the improvement of the highways and waterways. 

Believing in the righteousness of our cause and the final triumph 
of our principles, and convinced of the unwillingness of the Re- 
publican and Democratic parties to deal with these issues, we 
invite to full party fellowship all citizens who are with us agreed. 

Three trials were necessary to effect the nomination of a 
candidate for President. They resulted as follows : — 

Eugene W. Chafin, of Illinois 
William B. Patmore, of Missouri 
Joseph P. Tracy, of Michigan . 
Alfred L. Maniere, of New York 
Daniel R. Sheen, of Illinois . . 
Frederick F. Wheeler, of California 
Oliver W. Stewart, of Illinois . . 
J. B. Cranfill, of Texas . . . 
G. R. Stewart, of Vermont . . 
Charles Scanlon, of Pennsylvania 

Whole number of votes .... 1083 1087 1074 
Necessary to a choice 542 544 538 

The nomination of Mr. Chafin was made unanimous. The 
convention then proceeded to nominate for Vice-President, by 
acclamation, the Rev. William B. Patmore, of Missouri, who had 
led the field as a candidate for the presidency on the first and 
second votes and was Mr. Charm's only strong competitor on 
the third. But Mr. Patmore declined the nomination. At this 
point there was much confusion and a " parliamentary tangle " ; 
and many of the delegates had already left the hall when the 
vote was taken for a candidate. The result was : — 

Whole number of votes 702 

Necessary to a choice 352 

Aaron S. Watkins, of Ohio 535 

T. B. Demaree, of Kentucky 126 

Charles F. Holler, of Indiana 41 



1st 


2d 


3d 


. 193 


226 


636 


. 273 


418 


415 


. 161 


81 


7 


. 159 


121 


4 


. 134 


157 


12 


a 72 


37 


_ 


. 61 


47 


_ 


. 28 


- 


- 


1 


- 


_ 


1 


_ 


_ 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 199 

The nomination of Mr. Watkins was made unanimous. Both 
the candidates were also candidates of their party for Governor 
in their respective States. 

The last national convention of the canvass was that of the 
Independence party — the outgrowth of Mr. Hearst's Inde- 
pendence League. It was held at Chicago, beginning on July 
27. William R. Hearst, of New York, was the temporary 
chairman, and Charles A. Walsh, of Iowa, the permanent 
president. The number of States represented was not published, 
but on the final vote for a candidate for President, the number 
voting was 948. 

The only incident of the convention that needs to be men- 
tioned is the angry and even personally hostile treatment visited 
upon a delegate from Nebraska, who endeavored to present the 
name of Mr. Bryan as a candidate for nomination by the con- 
vention. 

The platform adopted was as follows : — 

We, independent American citizens, representing the Independ- 
ence party in forty-four states and two territories, have met in 
national convention to nominate, absolutely independent of all 
other political parties, candidates for President and Vice-President 
of the United States. Our action is based upon a determination to 
wrest the conduct of public affairs from the hands of selfish inter- 
ests, political tricksters, and corrupt bosses, and make the govern- 
ment, as the founders intended, an agency for the common good. 

At a period of unexampled national prosperity and promise a 
staggering blow was dealt to legitimate business by the unmolested 
practice of stock watering and dishonest financiering. Multitudes 
of defenceless investors, thousands of honest business men, and an 
army of idle workingmen are paying the penalty. Year by year, 
fostered by reckless governmental extravagance, by the manipula- 
tion of trusts, and by a privilege creating tariff, the cost of living 
mounts higher and higher. Day by day the control of the govern- 
ment drifts further away from the people and more firmly into 
the grip of machine politicians and party bosses. 

The Republican and Democratic parties are not only responsible 
for these conditions, but are committed to their indefinite contin- 
uance. Prodigal of promises, they are so barren of performance 
that to a new party of independent voters the country must look 
for the establishment of a new policy and a return to genuine 
popular government. 

Our object is not to introduce violent innovations or startlingly 
new features. We of the Independence party look back as Lincoln 



200 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

did to the Declaration of Independence as the fountain head of all 
political inspiration. It is not our purpose to attempt to revolution- 
ize the American system of government, but to restore the action 
of the government to the principles of Washington and Jefferson 
and Lincoln. It is not our purpose, either, to effect a radical change 
in the American system of government, but to conserve for the 
citizens of the United States their privileges and liberties, won for 
them by the founders of this government, and to perpetuate the 
principles and policies upon which the nation's greatness has been 
built. 

The Independence party is, therefore, a conservative force in 
American politics, devoted to the preservation of American liberty 
and independence, to honesty in elections, to opportunity in busi- 
ness, and to equality before the law. 

Those who believe in the Independence party and work with it 
are convinced that a genuine democracy should exist ; that a true 
republican form of government should continue ; that the power 
of government should rest with the majority of the people, and 
that the government should be conducted for the benefit of the 
whole citizenship rather than for the special advantage of any 
particular class. 

As of first importance in order to restore the power of govern- 
ment to the people, to make their will supreme in the primaries, 
in the elections, and in the control of public officials after they 
have been elected, we declare for direct nominations, the initiative 
and referendum, and the right of recall. It is idle to cry out against 
the evil of bossism while we perpetuate a system under which the 
boss is inevitable. The destruction of the individual boss is of lit- 
tle value. The people in their politics must establish a system 
which will eliminate not only an objectionable boss, but the sys- 
tem of bossism. Representative government is made a mockery by 
the system of modern party conventions dominated by the bosses 
and controlled by cliques. We demand the natural remedy of direct 
nominations by which the people not only elect, but — which is far 
more important — select their representatives. 

We believe in the principle of the initiative and referendum, and 
we particularly demand that no franchise grant go into operation 
until the terms and conditions have been approved by popular 
vote in the locality interested. 

We demand for the people the right to recall public officials 
from the public service. The power to make officials resides in the 
people, and in them also should reside the power to unmake and 
remove from office any official who demonstrates his unfitness or 
betrays the public trust. 

Of next importance in destroying the power of selfish special 



THE ERA OE "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 201 

interests and the corrupt political bosses whom they control is to 
wrest from their hands their main weapon, the corruption fund. 
We demand severe and effective legislation against all forms of 
corrupt practices at elections, and advocate prohibiting the use 
of any money at elections except for meetings, literature, and the 
necessary travelling expenses of the candidates. Bidding for votes 
the Republican and Democratic candidates are making an outcry 
about publicity of contributions, although both the Republican 
and Democratic parties have for years consistently blocked every 
effort to pass a corrupt practices act. Publicity of contributions is 
desirable and should be required, but the main matter of import- 
ance is the use to which contributions are put. We believe that the 
dishonest use of money in the past, whether contributed by indi- 
viduals or by corporations, has been chiefly responsible for the 
corruption which has undermined our system of popular govern- 
ment. 

We demand honest conduct of public office and business alike, 
and of economical administration of public affairs, and we con- 
demn the gross extravagance of federal administration and its 
appalling annual increase in appropriations. Unnecessary appro- 
priations mean unnecessary taxes, and unnecessary taxes, whether 
direct or indirect, are paid by the people, and add to the ever in- 
creasing cost of living. 

We condemn the evil of overcapitalization. Modern industrial 
conditions make the corporation and stock company a necessity, 
but overcapitalization in corporations is as harmful and criminal 
as is personal dishonesty in an individual. 

Compelling the payment of dividends upon great sums that have 
never been invested, upon masses of watered stock not justified by 
the property, overcapitalization prevents the better wages, the bet- 
ter public service, and the lower cost that should result from Ameri- 
can inventive genius and that wide organization which is replacing 
costly individual competition. The collapse of dishonestly inflated 
enterprises robs investors, closes banks, destroys confidence, and 
engenders panics. The Independence party advocates as a primary 
necessity for sounder business conditions and improved public 
service the enactment of laws, state and national, to prevent water- 
ing of stock, dishonest issue of bonds, and other forms of corpora- 
tion frauds. 

We denounce the so-called labor planks of the Republican and 
Democratic platforms as political buncombe and contemptible 
claptrap, unworthy of national parties claiming to be serious and 
sincere. 

The Republican declaration that injunction or temporary or re- 
straining order should not be issued without notice, except where 



202 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

irreparable injury would result from delay, is empty verbiage, for 
a showing of irreparable injury can always be made, and is always 
made, in ex parte affidavits. 

The Democratic declaration that "injunctions should not be 
issued in any case in which injunctions should not issue if no in- 
dustrial dispute were involved " is meaningless and worthless. 

Such insincere and meaningless declarations place a low esti- 
mate upon the intelligence of the average American workingman, 
and exhibit either ignorance of or indifference to the real interest 
of labor. 

The Independence party condemns the arbitrary use of the writ 
of injunction and contempt proceedings as a violation of the funda- 
mental American right of trial by jury. 

From the foundation of our Government down to 1872 the Fed- 
eral Judiciary act prohibited the issue of any injunction without 
reasonable notice until after a hearing. We assert that in all actions 
growing out of a dispute between employers and employes con- 
cerning terms or conditions of employment no injunction should 
issue until after a trial upon the merits, that such trial should be 
held before a jury, and that in no case of alleged contempt should 
any person be deprived of liberty without a trial by jury. 

The Independence party believes that the distribution of wealth 
is as important as the creation of wealth, and indorses these organ- 
izations among farmers and workers which tend to bring about a 
just distribution of wealth through good wages for workers and 
good prices for farmers, and which protect the employer and the 
consumer through equality of price for labor and for product, and 
we favor such legislation as will remove them from the operation 
of the Sherman anti-trust law. 

We indorse the eight-hour work day, favor its application to all 
Government employes, and demand the enactment of laws requir- 
ing that all work done for the Government, whether Federal or 
State, and whether done directly or indirectly through contractors 
or sub-contractors shall be done on an eight-hour basis. 

We favor the enactment of a law defining as illegal any com- 
bination or conspiracy to black-list employes. 

We demand protection for workmen through enforced use of 
standard safety appliances and provisions of hygienic conditions 
in the operation of factories, railways, mills, mines, and all indus- 
trial undertakings. 

We advocate State and Federal inspection of railways to secure 
a greater safety for railway employes and for the travelling pub- 
lic. We call for the enactment of stringent laws fixing employers' 
liabilities, and a rigid prohibition of child labor through coopera- 
tion between the State governments and the National Government. 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 203 

We condemn the manufacture and sale of prison-made goods in 
the open market in competition with free labor manufactured goods. 
We demand that convicts shall be employed direct by the different 
States in the manufacture of products for use in State institutions 
and in making good roads, and in no case shall convicts be hired 
out to contractors or sub-contractors. 

We favor the creation of a Department of Labor, including 
mines and mining, the head of which shall be a member of the 
President's Cabinet. 

The great abuses of grain inspection, by which the producers 
are plundered, demand immediate and vigorous correction. To 
that end we favor Federal inspection under a strict civil service 
law. 

The Independence party declares that the right to issue money 
is inherent in the Government, and it favors the establishment of 
a central governmental bank, through which the money so issued 
shall be put into general circulation. 

We demand a revision of the tariff, not by the friends of the 
tariff, but by the friends of the people, and declare for a gradual 
reduction of tariff duties, with just consideration for the rights of 
the consuming public and of established industry. There should 
be no protection for oppressive trusts which sell cheaply abroad 
and take advantage of the tariff at home to crush competition, 
raise prices, control production, and limit work and wages. 

The railroads must be kept open to all upon exactly equal terms. 
Every form of rebate and discrimination in railroad rates is a 
crime against business and must be stamped out. We demand 
adequate railroad facilities and advocate a bill empowering ship- 
pers in time of need to compel railroads to provide sufficient cars 
for freight and passenger traffic and other railroad facilities through 
summary appeal to the courts. We favor the creation of an Inter- 
state Commerce Court, whose sole function it shall be to review 
speedily and enforce summarily the orders of the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission. The Interstate Commerce Commission has the 
power to initiate investigation into the reasonableness of rates 
and practices, and no increase in rates should be put into effect 
until opportunity for such investigation is afforded. The Interstate 
Commerce Commission should proceed at once with a physical 
valuation of railroads engaged in interstate commerce. 

We believe that legitimate organizations in business designed to 
secure an economy of operation and increased production are bene- 
ficial wherever the public participates in the advantages which re- 
sult. We denounce all combinations for restraint of trade and for 
the establishment of monopoly in all products of labor, and de- 
clare that such combinations are not combinations for production, 



204 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

but for extortion, and that activity in this direction is not indus- 
try, but robbery. 

In cases of infractions of the Anti-Trust law or of the Interstate 
Commerce act, we believe in the enforcement of a prison penalty 
against the guilty and responsible individuals controlling the 
management of the offending corporations, rather than a fine 
imposed upon stockholders. 

We advocate the extension of the principle of public ownership 
of public utilities, including railroads, as rapidly as municipal, 
State, or National Government shall demonstrate ability to con- 
duct public utilities for the public benefit. We favor specifically 
government ownership of the telegraphs, such as prevails in every 
other civilized country in the world, and demand as an immediate 
measure that the Government shall purchase and operate the tele- 
graphs in connection with the postal service. 

The parcels post system should be rapidly and widely extended, 
and government postal savings banks should be established where 
the people's deposits will be secure, the money to be loaned to the 
people in the locality of the several banks at a rate of interest to 
be fixed by the government. 

We favor the immediate development of a national system of 
good roads connecting all states, and national aid to states in the 
construction and maintenance of post roads. 

We favor a court of review of the censorship and arbitrary rul- 
ings of the Post-0 ffice Department. 

We favor the admission of Arizona and New Mexico to separate 
statehood. 

We advocate such legislation, both state and national, as will 
suppress the bucket shop and prohibit the fictitious selling of farm 
products for future delivery. 

We favor the creation of a national department of public health, 
to be presided over by a member of the medical profession, this 
department to exercise such authority over matters of public 
health, hygiene, and sanitation which come properly within the 
jurisdiction of the national government as does not interfere with 
the rights of states or municipalities. 

We oppose Asiatic immigration, which does not amalgamate 
with our population, creates race issues and un-American condi- 
tions, and which reduces wages and tends to lower the high stand- 
ard of living and the high standard of morality which American 
civilization has established. 

We demand the passage of an exclusion act which shall protect 
American workingmen from competition with Asiatic cheap labor 
and which shall protect American civilization from the contam- 
ination of Asiatic conditions. 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 205 

The Independence party declares for peace and against aggres- 
sion, and will promote the movement for the settlement of inter- 
national disputes by arbitration. 

We believe, however, that a small navy is poor economy, and 
that a strong navy is the best protection in time of war and the 
best preventive of war. We therefore favor the speedy building of 
a navy sufficiently strong to protect at the same time both the 
Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of the United States. 

We rejoice in the adoption by both the Democratic and Repub- 
lican platforms of the demand of the Independence party for im- 
proved national waterways and the Mississippi inland deep-waters 
project, to complete a ship canal from the Gulf to the Great Lakes. 
We favor the extension of this system to the tributaries of the 
Mississippi, by means of which thirty states shall be served and 
20,000 miles added to the coast line of the United States. The re- 
clamation of arid land should be continued and the irrigation 
programme now contemplated by the government extended and 
steps taken for the conservation of the country's natural resources, 
which should be guarded not only against devastation and waste, 
but against falling into the control of the monopoly. 

The abuses growing out of the administration of our forest pre- 
serves must be corrected, and provisions should be made for free 
grazing from public lands outside of forest or other reservations. 
In behalf of the people residing in arid portions of our Western 
states we protest vigorously against the policy of the federal gov- 
ernment in selling the exclusive use of water and electric power 
derived from public works to private corporations, thus creating a 
monopoly and subjecting citizens living in those sections to exor- 
bitant charges for light and power, and diverting enterprises orig- 
inally started for public benefit into channels for corporate greed 
and oppression, and we demand that no more exclusive contracts 
be made. 

American citizens abroad, whether native born or naturalized, 
and of whatever race or creed, must be secured in the enjoyment 
of all rights and privileges under our treaties, and wherever such 
rights are withheld by any country on the ground of race or reli- 
gious faith, steps should be taken to secure the removal of such 
unjust discrimination. 

We advocate the popular election of United States Senators, 
and of judges, both state and federal, and favor a graduated in- 
come tax and any constitutional amendment necessary to these 
ends. 

Equality of opportunity, the largest measure of individual lib- 
erty consistent with equal rights ; the overthrow of the rule of 
special interest and the restoration of government by the majority 



206 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

exercised for the benefit of the whole community ; these are the 
purposes to which the Independence party is pledged, and we in- 
vite the cooperation of all patriots and progressive citizens, ir- 
respective of party, who are in sympathy with these principles 
and in favor of their practical enforcement. 

The nomination of a candidate for President was effected only 
on the third trial. The result on each vote was as follows : — 



Thomas L. Hisgen, of Massachusetts 
John T. Graves, of Georgia . . 
Milford W. Howard, of Alabama 
Reuben R. Lyon, of New York . 
William R. Hearst, of New York 
Whole number of votes . . . 
Necessary to a choice (two thirds) 



1st 


M 


3d 


391 


590 


831 


213 


189 


77 


200 


109 


38 


71 


— 


— 


49 


49 


2 


924 


937 


948 


617 


624 


632 



The customary vote to make the nomination of Mr. Hisgen 
unanimous was adopted. John Temple Graves, of Georgia, was 
nominated for Vice-President by acclamation. 

Official and ceremonial notification of nominations has be- 
come a prominent feature of every presidential canvass. It is 
not technically the opening of the campaign, but is made the 
occasion of great popular demonstrations and enables candidates 
to sound a "keynote." Mr. Taft was informed of his nomina- 
tion at Cincinnati, on July 28; Mr. Bryan, at his home in 
Lincoln, on August 12 ; Mr. Hisgen, in New York City, on 
August 31. Later came the notifications to the candidates for 
Vice-President, — Mr. Sherman, at Utica, Mr. Kern, at Indian- 
apolis, and Mr. Graves, at Atlanta. There w T ere great throngs 
of people at all these ceremonies. In some cases the attempt 
was made, with a certain amount of success, to make the occa- 
sion non-partisan. 

Both Mr. Taft and Mr. Bryan intended originally not to make 
any political tours. It was announced at first that Mr. Bryan 
would conduct a " front porch " campaign, that he would stay 
at home and make speeches to such friends and supporters as 
might call upon him there. Mr. Taft, who made a long stay at 
Hot Springs, Virginia, caused it to be known that under no 
circumstances Avould he journey over the country on a stump- 
ing tour. Both of them changed their plans. Moreover, Mr. 
Hisgen and Mr. Chafin were seen on the stump in many States. 
Mr. Bryan was first in the field. He started on the 20th of 



THE ERA OF « PROGRESSIVE " INSURGENCY 207 

August on a seven-days' trip and spoke at many points in In- 
diana, Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas. On the 30th he began another 
tour which took him as far as Minnesota and the Dakotas. He 
made a third, much longer trip, beginning September 6, and 
before his return had spoken in States so far apart as Rhode 
Island and Colorado. The closing weeks of the canvass found 
him in the East, devoting much attention to New York, New 
Jersey, and Ohio. 

Mr. Taft made his first political speech at Hot Springs, on 
August 21, and although he spoke a few times later in the 
month and early in September at various places in Ohio, did 
not enter upon an extended tour until September 23. From 
that time until the day of election he was almost constantly 
travelling and addressing rallies of his supporters. His itinerary 
carried him all over the Middle West, and he also visited 
Colorado, Wyoming, and the Dakotas, Missouri, and Nebraska. 
Toward the end of the campaign he was in the East, and spoke 
in several of the " border" States, Kentucky, West Virginia, 
Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. Like Mr. Bryan he 
closed the campaign in New York and Ohio. 

There was the usual optimism on both sides regarding the 
result. Vermont held its State election on September 1, and 
registered a little less — some two thousand — than the usual 
Republican majority, a result which gave the Democrats some 
encouragement. A week later Maine followed with a large re- 
duction. The Republican plurality was but a little more than 
8000, which was less than half the customary plurality. The 
Republicans explained that local conditions and local questions 
were answerable for the decline, and the assertion was true, but 
the Democrats believed that it presaged victory for them. But 
aside from the managers of the campaign, and those whom they 
could inspire with hopefulness, the belief that Mr. Taft was 
to be elected was general. 

The election took place on November 3, and resulted in a 
Republican victory. The popular and electoral vote is shown 
in the accompanying table. 

An analysis of the vote will reveal several points worthy 
of notice. The aggregate vote increased over that at the elec- 
tion of 1904 almost exactly ten per cent, — 1,362,881, — but 
it increased less than seven per cent over the enormous vote 
of 1896. But in the sixteen Southern States — from all the 
analyses Oklahoma is omitted, as it did not participate in any 



208 


A 


HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 












/I 






































Popular Vote 






Electo- 


















ral 


VOTE 




a 




to 


•TS 


o 

J- u 


03 

.5 


Q3 


S3 




States 





a 
S.2 

w-s 

s o 
a a 
s &> 

&° 


3 

Si 

05 ^ 

« £ 
5 


O 

w-s 

03 'o 
to O 
,0 02 

A 


OS .2 

S O 
-SCO 

3 


% 


5 J 

•n a 

S £ 

eS a 
S3 73 

5 


oS 

a 

1 

1 


s 
w 

g 

g 
>> 


Alabama .... 


26283 


74374 


665 


1399 




1568 


495 


n 


Arkansas 




567 GO 


87015 


1194 


5842 


_ 


1026 


289 


_ 


9 


California . 




214398 


127492 


11770 


28659 


_ 


_ 


4278 


10 


_ 


Colorado . . 




123700 


126644 


5559 


7974 


_ 


_ 


_ 


_ 


5 


Connecticut 




112815 


68255 


2380 


5113 


608 


_ 


728 


7 


_ 


Delaware 




25014 


22071 


670 


239 


_ 


_ 


30 


3 


_ 


Florida . . 




10654 


31104 


553 


3747 


_ 


1946 


1356 


_ 


5 


Georgia . . 




41692 


72413 


1059 


584 


_ 


16969 


77 


_ 


13 


Idaho . . . 




52621 


36162 


1986 


6400 


_ 


_ 


119 


3 


_ 


Illinois . . 




629932 


450810 


29364 


34711 


1680 


633 


7724 


27 


_ 


Indiana . . 




348993 


338262 


18045 


13476 


643 


1193 


514 


15 


_ 


Iowa . . . 




275210 


200771 


9837 


8287 


_ 


261 


404 


13 


_ 


Kansas . . 




197216 


161209 


5033 


12420 


_ 


_ 


68 


10 


_ 


Kentucky . 




235711 


244092 


5887 


41S5 


404 


333 


200 


_ 


13 


Louisiana. . 




8958 


63568 


- 


2538 


_ 


_ 


82 


_ 


9 


Maine . . . 




66987 


35403 


1487 


1758 


_ 


_ 


700 


6 


_ 


Maryland. . 




116513 


115908 


3302 


2323 


_ 


_ 


485 


2 


6 


Massachusetts 




265966 


155543 


4379 


10781 


1018 


_ 


19239 


16 


_ 


Michigan . . 




333313 


174619 


16795 


11527 


1086 


- 


734 


14 


_ 


Minnesota . 




195843 


109401 


11107 


14527 


_ 


- 


426 


11 


_ 


Mississippi . 




4363 


602S7 


- 


978 


_ 


1276 


- 


_ 


10 


Missouri . . 




347203 


340574 


4284 


15431 


868 


1165 


402 


18 


_ 


Montana . . 




32333 


29326 


827 


5855 


_ 


_ 


481 


3 


_ 


Nebraska 




126997 


131099 


5179 


3524 


_ 


_ 


_ 


_ 


8 


Nevada . . 




10775 


11212 


- 


2103 


_ 


_ 


436 


_ 


3 


New Hampshir 


i . 


53149 


33655 


905 


1299 


_ 


_ 


584 


4 


_ 


New Jersey . 




265326 


182567 


4934 


10253 


1196 


- 


2922 


12 


_ 


New York . 




870070 


667468 


22667 


38451 


3877 


- 


35817 


39 


_ 


North Carolina 




114887 


136928 


- 


345 


- 


- 


- 


_ 


12 


North Dakota 




57680 


32885 


1496 


2421 


_ 


_ 


43 


4 


_ 


Ohio . . . 




572312 


502721 


11402 


33795 


721 


162 


439 


23 


_ 


Oklahoma . 




110558 


122406 


.- 


21779 


_ 


434 


244 


_ 


7 


Oregon . . 




62530 


38049 


2682 


7339 


_ 


_ 


289 


4 




Pennsylvania 




745779 


448785 


36694 


33913 


1222 


_ 


1057 


34 


_ 


Rhode Island 




43942 


24706 


1016 


1365 


183 


- 


1105 


4 


_ 


South Carolina 




3965 


62290 


— 


100 


- 


- 


43 


_ 


9 


South Dakota 




67536 


40266 


4039 


2846 


- 


- 


88 


4 


- 


Tennessee . 




118324 


135608 


300 


1870 


- 


1081 


332 


- 


12 


Texas . . . 




65666 


217302 


1634 


7870 


176 


994 


115 


_ 


18 


Utah . . . 




61165 


42601 


- 


4890 


- 


_ 


92 


3 


_ 


Vermont . . 




39552 


11496 


799 


— 


- 


- 


804 


4 


_ 


Virginia . . 




52573 


82946 


1111 


255 


25 


105 


51 


_ 


12 


Washington 




106062 


58691 


4700 


14177 


- 


- 


249 


5 


- 


"West Virginia 




137869 


111418 


5139 


3679 


- 


- 


46 


7 


- 


Wisconsin . 




247747 


166662 


11565 


28147 


314 


- 


- 


13 


- 


Wyoming . 




20846 


14918 


66 


1715 


- 


- 


64 


3 

321 


- 


Total 


7677788 


6407982 


252511 


420890 


14021 


29146 


83651 


162 



election before 1908 — the vote was 434,800 less in 1908 than 
in 1896. 

A comparison of the vote of 1908 with that of 1904, either 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 209 

as a whole or by groups of States, seems to confirm the con- 
clusions advanced in the previous chapter. It was there sug- 
gested that the "safe and sane" policy of the Democrats led 
a considerable body of that party to vote for Mr. Roosevelt 
in preference to Judge Parker, in the belief that the Republi- 
can candidate was the more radical of the two, and that it 
also caused a much larger number to withhold their votes al- 
together. The return of Mr. Bryan to the leadership detached 
from the Republicans those radical Democrats who had sup- 
ported Mr. Roosevelt four years before, and it also drew to 
Mr. Taft some conservative Democrats who had voted for Judge 
Parker. At the same time the abstainers of 1904 now went to 
the polls for Mr. Bryan. As a result the gains and losses of 
the Republican candidate virtually offset each other, and the 
Democratic vote was largely increased. The aggregate vote 
does not contradict this theory. Mr. Taft's total vote was less 
than 50,000 more than Roosevelt's, but Mr. Bryan's was 
1,323,000 more than Parker's. 

Comparing, as in the last chapter, the vote for the leading 
candidates by groups of States, we find that in New England, 
which is rather more conservative than some other parts of the 
country, the change was small, as it was between 1900 and 
1904. In round numbers the comparison stands thus : — 

1904 1908 

Republican 569,600 576,400 

Democratic 335,000 329,000 

If any inference may be drawn it is that a larger number of 
conservative Democrats deserted their party than had been 
the case in 1904. But that assertion cannot be made of any 
other group of States. In New York, New Jersey, and Penn- 
sylvania the comparison shows : — 

1904 1908 

Republican 1,945,600 1,881,200 

Democratic 1,184,000 1,298,800 

Here the Republicans lost 64,400, and the Democrats 
gained 114,800. The change is not a large one, but so far as 
it goes it is the reversal of the tendency of the previous four 
years which we should expect. The tendency to a return to 
normal conditions is more strongly marked in the next group 
— Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, — as the reverse 
tendency was stronger four years before. In 1904 the change 



210 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

in the four States was a gain of 170,000 by the Republicans, 
a loss of 420,000 by the Democrats. Now the change is indi- 
cated by the following figures : — 

1904 1908 

Republican ...... 1,963,900 1,875,600 

Democratic 1,080,800 1,466,400 

That is, a loss of 88,000 by the Republicans, and a gain of 
385,000 by the Democrats. But the net result of the change 
in eight years is an increase of 114,000 in the Republican 
majority. The change in the seven States of Iowa, Kansas, 
Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas, is still 
more pronounced. In 1904 the Republicans gained 116,400 
over their vote in 1900 ; the Democrats lost 344,700. The 
comparison between 1904 and 1908 is as follows : — 

1904 1908 

Republican 1,278,600 1,168,200 

Democratic 501,300 842,300 

That is, the Democrats gained 341,000 ; the Republicans lost 
110,400; and the net result, as compared with 1900, was a 
gain of 6000 by the Republicans, and of 24,700 by the Demo- 
crats, — in short, an almost precise return to the former con- 
ditions. The other Western and the Pacific States — nine in 
number, growing in population more rapidly than the rest of 
the country — show the same tendency. In 1904 the Repub- 
licans cast 194,600 more votes than in 1900; the Democrats, 
132,500 fewer. In 1908 the Republicans increased their vote 
by only 10,000; the Democrats by 163,600, as is indicated by 
the following statement : — 

1904 1908 

Republican 674,400 684,400 

Democratic 321,500 485,100 

It is to be borne in mind, with reference to this last group 
of States, that in 1900 the effect of the Free Silver campaign 
had not disappeared altogether, and the Republicans had a net 
plurality of only 25,800, which was increased in 1904 to 
352,900, and decreased in 1908 to 199,300. 

Finally we have the sixteen Southern States. There are 
contests comparable to those in the North in Delaware, Mary- 
land, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri ; the voting is 
of a more languid character in North Carolina, Tennessee, and 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 211 

Arkansas, but elections have a certain appearance of being 
contested, which is not the case in Virginia, South Carolina, 
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. 
But it is best to consider the whole group of sixteen States, 
without making the distinction. In 1900 the Democrats had a 
net majority in those States of 495,400 ; in 1904 their plural- 
ity was 412,200, the combined vote for the two leading par- 
ties having decreased 571,400. The record for the elections 
of 1904 and 1908 was: — 

1904 1908 

Republican 1,244,400 1,366,400 

Democratic 1,656,600 1,863,900 

The Republican vote increased 122,000, but was still 
122,100 below that of 1900. The Democratic vote increased 
207,300, but was still 120,000 below the 1900 vote. The 
aggregate vote for the two leading candidates in 1908 ex- 
ceeded that in 1904 by 299,300, of which number 167,700 was 
contributed by the five States which were closely contested, 
89,600 by the three States of North Carolina, Tennessee, and 
Arkansas, and only 40,000 by the other eight. 

It is a common impression that the aggregate vote given to 
the minor parties and candidates shows a tendency to increase. 
Such is not the fact. General Weaver received a larger popular 
vote in 1892 than the combined votes given to all the minor 
candidates in either 1904 or 1908. The Socialist party has 
increased its vote largely at the last two elections, and its 
vote was but slightly larger in 1908 than in 1904. The aggre- 
gate vote given to all the minor candidates at the last eight 
elections is given below : — 

Year Minor Candidates 

1880 318,883 

1884 325,736 

1888 . . 400,510 

1892 1,318,259! 

1896 . . 538,881 2 

1900 394,809 3 

1904 809,881 4 

1908 800,219 5 

1 General Weaver, 1,040,886. 2 Bryan and Watson, 222,583. 

3 Socialist vote, 94,864. 4 Socialist vote, 402,895. 

6 Socialist vote, 420,890. 



212 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

In 1904 for the first time the Socialist candidates received 
some votes in every state. In 1908 they were voted for in every 
State except Vermont. 

The count of the electoral votes took place on February 10, 
1909. The proceedings were identical in form with those that 
were observed in 1905. The concurrent resolution prescribing 
the form was passed by both houses of Congress without a sug- 
gestion of amendment, without debate, and without opposition. 
The only incident of the count — and it is hardly worthy of 
mention — is that the electors for the State of Wisconsin were 
found to have certified that their votes for President were given 
to William H. Taft, of New York. The tellers were permitted 
to treat the error as an accident, and the votes were counted 
as for Mr. Taft, of Ohio. 

The inauguration, which took place on March 4, 1909, pos- 
sessed some features worthy of notice. Arrangements were made 
for unusual display and ceremony. The installation of a Pre- 
sident in office has gradually become an occasion for spectacular 
effects and for immense gatherings of politicians and of sup- 
porters of the new President. It was estimated that on the 
great day in 1909 Washington contained more than a hundred 
thousand visitors who had been drawn to the capital city to 
witness the advent of a new administration. 

The Weather Bureau predicted a fine day for the ceremony, 
but the weather is capricious in early March, and Washington 
awoke on that morning to find a severe storm raging — wind, and 
snow, and sleet, and rain. Most elaborate bunting decorations 
adorned the buildings along Pennsylvania Avenue. They were 
drenched and drooping long before the President and the Pre- 
sident-elect entered the motor-car at the White House to pro- 
ceed to the Capitol. When the distinguished company was as- 
sembled in the Senate Chamber — both houses of Congress, the 
Supreme Court, the Cabinet, and the Diplomatic Corps — the 
oath was administered to Mr. Sherman, the Vice-President-elect, 
who delivered a brief inaugural address, the Senate adjourned, 
the Senate as it was to be constituted for the ensuing two years 
was called to order, and the oath was administered to the new 
senators. 

At this point it is customary for a procession to be formed to 
proceed to the east front of the Capitol, where the oath of office 
is taken by the new President in the presence of assembled 
tens of thousands of people. But owing to the extremely in- 



THE ERA OF "PROGRESSIVE" INSURGENCY 213 

clement weather and the age of many of those in official posi- 
tion who would take part in the procession, the inauguration 
took place in the Senate Chamber. The oath was administered 
to Mr. Taft by Chief Justice Fuller, — the sixth, and last, 
time that he inducted a President into office. The ambition of 
Mr. Taft, of which he made no secret, to occupy a seat on the 
bench of the Supreme Court, led to an interesting variation of 
the ceremony. It has been the custom of Presidents to take 
the oath on a Bible, usually presented to them for the purpose, 
and to retain the book. But Mr. Taft wished to make use of 
the Bible on which, for well-nigh a century, justices of the 
Supreme Court have placed a hand when taking the oath. 

After the delivery of the inaugural address, Mr. Roosevelt, 
now a private citizen, retired from the Senate Chamber, hotly 
applauded as he withdrew, and under the escort of a large body 
of New Yorkers, went directly to the railway station, where 
he was soon joined by Mrs. Roosevelt, and took the train for 
his home at Oyster Bay. 

That also was a departure from custom, for it has been us- 
ual for the retiring President to accompany his successor not 
only in going to the Capitol, but on the return to the White 
House. On this occasion both Mr. Taft and Mr. Sherman were 
accompanied by their wives on the return journey. The parade 
which had been planned was carried out in spite of slush in 
the street and sleet in the air, and the newly installed Presid- 
ent and Vice-President reviewed it from a stand in front of 
the White House. 



IV 

THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 

On the morning after the inauguration, in 1909, many of 
the daily newspapers of the country " featured " a photograph 
of the outgoing and incoming Presidents standing side by side, 
which was taken the moment before they left together the 
White House for the Capitol, where Mr. Taft was to take the 
oath of office. The two men, then so friendly, were nevertheless 
to be, willingly or unwillingly, the central figures in the most 
furiously waged contest that ever wrecked an American political 
party. 

The breach, the division, seen after the event to have been 
inevitable, had many contributing causes, but the underlying 
cause was the strong personality of Theodore Roosevelt, which 
had won for him a countless host of followers, unalterably de- 
termined to accept none but him as a leader. 

The Republican party was organized originally for a radical 
purpose, to stem the progress of slavery. Gradually, so soon as 
its chief objects — emancipation, restoration of the Union, re- 
construction, and a protective tariff — had been achieved, it 
became essentially the conservative party of the country ; 
and the Democrats, allying themselves successively with 
Greenbackers, Populists, and Free Silver men, fell com- 
pletely under the control of a radical element. The Demo- 
cratic party, nevertheless, still retained in its membership 
a considerable contingent of conservatives, many of whom 
manifested their independence by their support of Palmer and 
Buckner in 1896 ; others, in order to preserve their party 
standing and regularity, and in the hope of a revulsion sooner 
or later against radicalism, voted the straight ticket in that 
election, with great reluctance. Eight years later, after two 
party defeats, they were nominally allowed to assume control 
in order to test their strength in the country. The result was 
a third defeat and a resumption of leadership by the radicals. 

Meantime, on the death of President McKinley, Theodore 
Roosevelt had succeeded to office. Although, during the 
remainder of the McKinley term, so far as his natural 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 215 

disposition permitted he kept his promise to continue the 
policies — they were conservative policies — of his predeces- 
sor, he soon gave unmistakable indications that the bent of 
his mind was not merely mildly but strongly radical. Yet he 
had obtained an extraordinary hold upon the people of the 
country, and his nomination for a full term and his election 
were inevitable. The really conservative opinion within his 
party made little secret of its opposition to him, but there was 
no open opposition after he was nominated. There is no reason 
to think that any considerable number of Republicans, certainly 
no recognized leader, voted for Parker and Davis as represent- 
ing a more conservative tendency. On the other hand, there is 
evidence, easily deducible from the election returns, that a great 
many radical Democrats, angry at the temporary self-effacement 
of their own wing of the party, deserted their candidates and 
supported Roosevelt as the candidate most nearly reflecting 
their own political principles and aspirations. Inasmuch as Mr. 
Roosevelt was enthusiastically supported by a great body of 
admirers in his own party, who were neither conservative nor 
radical by strong conviction, but ready to be carried in either 
direction by a powerful leader ; also by the conservative rank 
and file because they could not do otherwise, however seriously 
they might distrust their candidate ; and by a host of temporary 
recruits from the other party ; his success at the polls was im- 
posing — a popular majority of more than two and a half mil- 
lion votes and an electoral majority of much more than two to 
one, including the votes of every northern State and of two of 
those usually classed as southern. 

It has already been carefully emphasized, in the preceding 
chapter, that the result of the election of 1904 was in effect, if 
not a mandate to the President then chosen to lead his party and 
the country to the enforcement of a radical programme, at least 
a certificate of permission to do so. He accepted the permission 
and acted upon it during his full term of four years. No criti- 
cism of him for so acting is just. Two consequences, which 
were not then foreseen, but which are now seen to have been 
inevitable, were the rending of the Republican party into two 
factions, and the organization of the mighty host of Roosevelt's 
followers, most of them previously indifferent as between radi- 
calism and conservatism, into a body of eager and enthusiastic 
advocates of any extreme policy Mr. Roosevelt might urge, 
and looking to him as the one and only agent earnest enough 



216 A HISTOKY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

and strong enough to make the proposed reform effective and 
complete. 

It was the loyalty, little short of idolatry, to Mr. Roosevelt 
that furnished a sufficient explanation of the prolonged attempt in 
the convention of 1908 to stampede it in his favor. There is in 
existence — it has never been published — absolutely convincing 
evidence of Mr. Roosevelt's sincerity in the wish that Mr. Taft 
should be nominated. Indeed, if there is any criticism to be 
made upon him in that contest it is that he transcended the 
bounds of propriety by his activity in Taft's behalf and by 
sanctioning tactics to accomplish his object which he condemned 
in no measured terms four years later, when the same tactics 
were employed against himself. The attempt to stampede the 
convention, whether carefully prepared in advance or spon- 
taneous, was not prepared by him, but it was a proof of the 
fact that the throng of his admiring followers felt impatient 
and intolerant of being under any other leader, even under one 
chosen by the leader himself. In that respect Mr. Taft was 
less fortunate than the only other man in our political history 
who was placed in a similar situation. Van Buren also was 
chosen as his successor by the President, who was, like Roose- 
velt, a strong and domineering personality and the object of 
extraordinary political veneration. He too went down to defeat 
for a second election ; but neither did Jackson turn against him, 
nor did Jackson's followers fail in their loyalty. Yet the two 
cases are so far parallel that it may be said that in neither case 
could any man of the same party as the retiring President have 
made a successful administration. 

Let us consider the situation. In spite of the great popular 
and electoral majorities he had received, Mr. Taft was not in 
the ordinary sense a popular man, and did not enjoy the public 
confidence to a large degree. Not only were the thick-and-thin 
adherents of Roosevelt suspicious of his earnestness in carrying 
on the policies bequeathed to him, but the conservatives, in 
view of the fact that he was the choice of one whom they 
distrusted, had a more than vague apprehension that he would 
continue the warfare for changes which they did not approve 
and would prolong the period of business unrest. In short, the 
party which elected Taft was already divided when he took 
office, and there was laid upon him the hopeless task of satis- 
fying both wings of it. At all events, that was the task he un- 
dertook and, hopeless though it was, one for which he had 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 217 

unusual qualifications. For he was both a reformer and a con- 
servative, by no means either a radical or, in the slang of the 
day, a " stand-patter." The task was hopeless because the radi- 
cal wing of the party, created by Roosevelt, would be satisfied 
with nothing less than the whole programme of reform ; because 
the other wing of the party always dreaded the next step and 
had not confidence in Taft's real conservatism. So the party, 
divided in March, 1909, remained divided up to the time of the 
catastrophe, in June, 1912. 

It was naturally the radical wing that took the aggressive, 
and no time was lost in taking it. The war within the party 
on the President began as soon as the make-up of the Cabinet 
was announced. He was accused of treachery and breach of 
faith, if not of his pledged word, because he did not appoint 
certain of Mr. Roosevelt's secretaries. Irrefutable evidence ex- 
ists that the charge was wholly untrue ; but since it was made 
irresponsibly and without an attempt at proof, no one of those 
who were in a position to dispose of it summarily dignified it 
by a formal denial. Consequently those believed it who were 
prepared to believe anything evil of. the President, and a foun- 
dation was laid for the distrust and animosity toward him that 
soon became chronic and widespread. 

Examples might be given plentifully of the attacks made 
upon the President by newspapers nominally of his own party 
at the very outset, before the country had an opportunity 
to ascertain what to expect of him. Here are a few, which date 
from the second month of the administration — April, 1909. 
" Taft has surrounded himself with corporation attorneys." 
" Roosevelt policies are in the ditch, for sure." " Taft has made 
a studied effort to repudiate the things for which his prede- 
cessor stood." "The man goes about exactly as if he did not 
exist by the grace of another." " Roosevelt suffers from the 
deepest wound known to man — ingratitude." 

It is the barest justice to Mr. Roosevelt to say that he had, 
and could have had, no part in such flings at the man whom he, 
more than any other, had helped to his present position. In 
fact the two men were then, and long afterward, carrying on 
a correspondence in the most friendly and even affectionate 
tone, in which public questions were discussed more or less 
freely, without a symptom of discord between them. Such in- 
tercourse was interrupted by Mr. Roosevelt's long absence on 
his hunting tour in Africa, but was resumed, in a more desul- 



218 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

tory manner, to be sure, after his return. It must, neverthe- 
less, be remarked as singular that, so far as is known, Mr. 
Roosevelt never rebuked his partisans as being over-officious, 
never denied accusations against the President which he knew 
to be untrue, nor in any way dissociated himself from the cam- 
paign which was carried on quite as much in his interest as in 
opposition to the President. Indeed, one journalist, as early as 
in the spring of 1909, announced with evident satisfaction that 
events were shaping themselves for a Republican defeat in the 
congressional elections of 1910, and then, nothing could pre- 
vent such a call for Roosevelt that he would be nominated in 
1912. So far as Mr. Roosevelt himself was concerned, his policy 
all through the first three years of the administration was one 
of silence. Publicly, at least, he expressed neither approval nor 
disapproval of his successor's acts. The reason why he concealed 
his opinion must be left to conjecture. Meantime the campaign 
against Taft proceeded with increasing violence. 

During the second term of President Roosevelt the question 
of the tariff was officially kept somewhat in the background. The 
President himself made no effort to bring it forward. He had 
many items on his programme which he deemed of more press- 
ing importance. His opponents ascribed his apparent indiffer- 
ence to another motive, but that which is here suggested is an 
ample as well as a reasonable explanation. But however un- 
mindful of the issue he and a majority of the members of Con- 
gress were, it was a very lively issue in the country. The " insur- 
gent " group in the West, and many influential newspapers of 
that region, together with not a few in the East, were insistent 
in their " demands" for a revision of the tariff and a reduction 
of the rates of duty. The convention that nominated Taft 
could not and did not disregard the widespread sentiment. The 
paragraph in the platform dealing with the subject 1 should 
be carefully studied by those who would decide judicially 
whether or not the Republicans subsequently fulfilled the 
promise of the platform ; but after they have done so there will 
still be two opinions on the subject. There are three chief fea- 
tures of the declaration: (1) The Republican party "declares 
unequivocally for a revision of the tariff"; (2) the true prin- 
ciple is the imposition of such duties as will equal the difference 
between the cost of production at home and abroad, together with 
1 See page 172. 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 219 

reasonable profit to American industries; (3) a declaration 
against " excessive duties.'' 

The platform also called for a special session of Congress at 
once to act on the tariff. The President accordingly sum- 
moned Congress to meet in extraordinary session on March 
15. The Republican members of the House Committee on Ways 
and Means had been holding hearings and considering the 
schedules during most of the time since the election, and the 
bill was ready to be presented when Congress met. The mem- 
bership of the Sixty-first Congress at its first meeting was made 
up as follows: Senate, Republicans, 60; Democrats, 32. House 
of Representatives, Republicans, 219; Democrats, 172. The 
Republicans had therefore a sufficient majority in both branches 
to carry their party measures, although there were even then as 
many as seven senators who classed themselves as Republicans 
who were energetically opposed to such a tariff policy as was to 
be expected from the leaders who controlled the Finance Com- 
mittee of the Senate. Their number increased as time passed. 

There was a prolonged debate upon the tariff bill in the 
House, which did not end until April 9, when it was passed, 
yeas 217, nays 161, — substantially a party vote. The 
discussion in the Senate occupied even more time, for the 
final vote did not come until July 8, when 45 votes were given 
for the bill and 34 against it. The conference committee acted 
deliberately. The House accepted its report by 195 ayes to 183 
noes, twenty Republicans being in the negative. The Senate 
accepted it on August 5, and Congress adjourned on the same 
day. Its vote was ayes 47, noes 31. Seven Republicans voted 
no ; one Democrat yes. 

The Payne-Aldrich Act, as it has been called, contributed 
greatly to the defeat of the Republicans in 1912. Its severest 
critics were Republicans, who protested that the platform was 
understood by members of the party generally, indeed, univers- 
ally, except by those who had betrayed them, as a promise of 
41 downward " revision. As a matter of fact there were numer- 
ous reductions of duty in the act, and taken as a whole the 
rate of duty was somewhat lower. But it is unquestionably true 
that the great body of Republicans throughout the country, 
whether they were in favor of the Dingley rates or not, did un- 
derstand that the party was pledged to a substantial reduction. 
Opponents of the act complained that the most objectionable 
duties had been maintained or increased, and that the items in 



220 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

which reductions had been made were in many cases chosen 
to produce a false impression that it was a downward revi- 
sion, but of no benefit to the consumer. On the other hand, 
the act was stoutly defended, but as usually happens, the de- 
fence was attributed to self-interest. President Taft, who made 
no secret of his wish for a decided reduction of rates, interfered 
little or not at all while the bill was in its progress through 
Congress, and later provided his enemies with a fresh count in 
the indictment against him, by declaring that it was the best 
tariff measure ever passed. But in that remark he referred not 
so much to the rates of duty levied, which were not satisfactory 
to him, as to the scientific classification of merchandise for pur- 
poses of the tariff, and to the administrative features of the act. It 
did, in fact, carry out explicitly the Republican platform prom- 
ises collateral to the tariff issue. It introduced the principle of 
maximum and minimum rates as a device to furnish the govern- 
ment with the means to secure trade concessions from foreign 
countries ; granted modified free trade to the Philippine Islands ; 
.gave authority to the President to appoint a tariff board to col- 
lect facts and statistics for use in framing tariff laws ; made pro- 
vision for a corporation tax ; and created a court for customs 
appeals. All these collateral measures the President greatly 
desired. The tariff act was the only important product of the 
special session of Congress. 

The early months of the administration saw the beginning 
of a fierce controversy, partly political, partly personal, which 
lasted many months, from which the President could not dis- 
sociate himself, in which he courageously espoused one side, 
and thereby earned for himself a group of unrelenting political 
enemies who took a leading part in accomplishing his down- 
fall. The policy of the conservation of the natural resources of 
the country was one of Mr. Roosevelt's cherished schemes, and 
he was enthusiastically supported in it by the Chief Forester, 
Mr. G-ifford Pinchot. Shortly before the change of administra- 
tion the President withdrew from entry, location, and settle- 
ment about a million and a half acres of land in Montana and 
"Wyoming. Upon the advice of Mr. Ballinger, the new Sec- 
retary of the Interior, President Taft cancelled the withdrawal 
as not authorized by existing law. It seems never to have been 
maintained by those who criticised the cancellation that the 
law did authorize the withdrawal order, but it was vehemently 
urged that the public good and the welfare of future genera- 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 221 

tions required it to be done, law or no law. The action of Sec- 
retary Ballinger was accordingly roundly denounced ; and was 
stoutly defended by the President. It was cited as an indication 
that the policies of the former President were to be abandoned. 
A little later serious charges were made against the Secretary 
of offences said to have been committed by him before he en- 
tered the Cabinet. In the previous administration he had been 
Commissioner of the General Land Office. In the interval be- 
tween his retirement from that position and his appointment 
by Taft he was declared to have been connected improperly 
with certain Alaskan coal land claims. The matter attracted 
great attention in newspaper and private discussion, as well as 
in Washington, and the country was divided into two camps 
on the Ballinger question. The President sturdily defended 
his Secretary, and an investigation instituted by him resulted 
in a verdict of his innocence. But the opposition to him con- 
tinued, and the investigation was stigmatized as a " white- 
wash." In the course of the controversy an act by Mr. Pin- 
chot, which was held to be insubordination, led to his dismissal 
summarily from the office of Chief Forester. The whole inci- 
dent, personal though it w r as to a great extent, increased the 
alienation from the President of the particular friends of Mr. 
Roosevelt, who were unitedly opposed to Ballinger. The dis- 
missal of Mr. Pinchot did not take place until January, 1910, 
when Mr. Roosevelt was still absent on his African hunting 
tour. Nevertheless, it was intimated that Pinchot's conduct 
had been suggested to him by Roosevelt. Although the in- 
sinuation was manifestly untrue, in fact impossible, it served 
its purpose to increase the devotion of Roosevelt's followers 
and the opposition of his enemies. The affair was unworthy 
of the stir it created ; but it is necessary to mention it as hav- 
ing have had an appreciable influence upon the result of the 
canvass in 1912. 

In the autumn of 1909 the President made an extensive 
speaking tour through the West. In his utterances there was 
no suggestion that he w T as not heartily in favor of and deter- 
mined to carry out the policies of his predecessor. On the 
contrary, he adduced facts that implied that he was carrying 
them out ; as, for example, his statistics of the prosecutions in 
progress against " trusts." His method of presenting problems 
of government, and of solving them, was different from Roose- 
velt's mechod, as the two men were different. But if the tone 



222 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

in which purposes were announced was more conciliatory, it 
was not less resolute. Although his opponents proclaimed 
loudly that he had abandoned Roosevelt's policies, they did 
not find confirmation of the statement in his words ; and his 
beginning a prosecution of the American Sugar Refining Com- 
pany, as conducting a business in violation of the anti-trust 
law, was a proof that he had not entirely abandoned them. 

In December, 1909, Congress met for the " long " session. 
The President had on his programme many measures which 
he wished to be passed. Although a part of the programme 
failed, it is quite true, as was remarked at the end of the ses- 
sion, that more constructive legislation was enacted than by 
any previous Congress since Reconstruction. Indeed, it may 
be questioned if the legislation of any Congress since the First, 
which organized the government, had a broader scope. Per- 
haps the most important measure passed was the railroad rate 
law, which found its way to the statute-book after a long agita- 
tion. It gave largely increased power to the Interstate Com- 
merce Commission over both freight and passenger charges, 
and modified to a certain extent the provision of law on the 
"long and short haul." It greatly extended the restrictions 
upon common carriers, and included in that category pipe-lines, 
telegraphs, and telephones. A Commerce Court was established 
— to be abolished by the succeeding administration — for 
hearing and determining appeals from the Interstate Commerce 
Commission. Important changes were made in the laws relat- 
ing to the public lands, in order to preserve such lands as con- 
tain valuable mineral deposits, or are essential to the conserva- 
tion of water-power, from passing into private hands ; and the 
rules relative to the withdrawal of tracts of the national domain 
from entry and settlement were improved. The law requiring 
the use of safety appliances on railway cars was amended and 
strengthened. A Bureau of Mines was established in the interest 
of the safety of miners. A stringent act dealing with the evil 
known as "white slavery" was passed. It will be observed 
that all the measures here enumerated were designed in one 
way or another to improve or protect the position of the people 
as a whole, or individually. They may all be classed as among 
the more or less direct results of the agitations of the few pre- 
ceding years. 

Other acts of that session, also of an important although 
different character should not be omitted from this incomplete 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 223 

list. An enabling act was passed for the admission of Arizona 
and New Mexico as separate States, instead of as one, closing 
a controversy that came over from the previous administration. 
It may be said here, out of the chronological order, that the 
act required the constitutions adopted by the conventions of 
the two States to be submitted to the President and to Con- 
gress for approval. Admission was not to be effective unless 
that approval was given. Arizona introduced into its constitu- 
tion the feature of the " recall " of judges. The President 
emphatically opposed that principle and withheld approval. 
Congress at its next session passed another act, prescribing 
certain conditions prior to the admission either of Arizona or 
of New Mexico. The people of Arizona were required to vote 
upon the ratification of an amendment to the paragraph provid- 
ing for the recall of elective officers, containing the clause 
" except the judiciary." They did ratify it, and in due time 
the President proclaimed the admission of the two States. 

In addition to the enactments already mentioned was one 
establishing postal saving banks ; also a law requiring publi- 
cation of all contributions to funds for promoting the election 
of candidates for Congress, and the expenditures therefrom ; an 
act for the protection of. the seal fisheries in the Bering Sea, 
afterward superseded by an agreement with Great Britain and 
Japan prohibiting altogether, for a term of years, the killing of 
seals in the Pacific ; a law further regulating immigration by 
specifying more definitely the classes of persons who are not to 
be admitted to the country ; a law to protect travel at sea by 
requiring passenger steamships of specified capacity and length 
of voyage to be equipped with the instruments of wireless teleg- 
raphy ; and a law introducing the practice of paroling prison- 
ers convicted under United States law after a certain term of 
imprisonment. 

A striking manifestation of the prevailing spirit of " in- 
surgency " at that time was the successful campaign that was 
waged in the House of Representatives to curb the power of 
the Speaker. By gradual steps taken by men of strong will 
who had from time to time held the position of Speaker, a 
measure of control over the proceedings which was excessive, 
in the opinion of many persons in and out of Congress, had 
been assumed and exercised, not infrequently in an arbitrary 
manner. The Speaker appointed all committees, without asking 
the approval of the House, as all his predecessors for a good 



224 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

part of a century had done before him, and thus had the power 
to organize any committee so as to promote or obstruct any 
measure or class of measures as to the merit of which he held 
a strong opinion. He was himself chairman of the Committee 
on Rules, which proposed to the House the conditions under 
which important bills should be debated. By a stretch of au- 
thority he might practically deny to a majority of the body the 
right to bring forward for consideration a bill to which he was 
opposed. Mr. Speaker Reed, indeed, once assumed that au- 
thority and thwarted a clear majority of the House who were 
resolved to pass a free silver bill. Another power exercised by 
the Speaker was that of granting — by " recognizing w a mem- 
ber — or refusing an opportunity to ask for unanimous consent 
to take up and pass a bill. Mr. Cannon justified that use of his 
position on the ground that he was himself a member of the 
House, and as such, in case of his opposition to any measure, 
entitled, like any other member, to object to its consideration, 
in other words, to refuse unanimous consent. For some years 
there had been a growing impatience on the part of many mem- 
bers at these powers, which might be dictatorial and dangerous 
if placed in improper hands ; and now the revolt against " Can- 
nonism " broke out. The Democrats naturally favored it, but 
the leaders were a large group of persistent Republican " in- 
surgents," and they carried their point. The reform which they 
effected was not thorough, though it took out of the hands of 
the Speaker the right to appoint the Committee on Rules, and 
forbade him to be a member of it. The resolution to make the 
committee elective was offered on March 18, 1910, by a radical 
Republican, and was supported by the entire body of Demo- 
crats as well as by the insurgents. After a prolonged parlia- 
mentary struggle the Speaker ruled the resolution out of order, 
but the House reversed his decision, thirty-five Republicans 
voting against it. On the final vote 191 members voted for the 
resolution, 156 against it. Then a Democratic member offered 
a resolution to depose Mr. Cannon from the speakership, but 
on that question the Republicans were united, and the resolu- 
tion was defeated, 155 to 192. The Speaker was personally 
popular, and the objection to him was aimed solely at his par- 
liamentary dictatorship. No further action was taken to limit 
his power, but the next House of Representatives withdrew 
from the Speaker all power to appoint committees, and en- 
trusted it nominally to the whole House, but really to an 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 225 

elected (by a caucus of members of the majority) Committee 
on Ways and Means and to the minority leader. 

Other events of the same period had an influence upon the 
political situation j and possibly also upon the election in 1912. 
Two of the veteran senators on the Republican side announced 
their prospective retirement from the Chamber — Nelson W. 
Aldrich, of Rhode Island, and Eugene Hale, of Maine. Each 
had served more than thirty years in Congress. They were 
both most prominent in the leadership of the Senate and were 
ranked among the uncompromising opponents of the innova- 
tions in Republican policy that were due to the public activities 
of Mr. Roosevelt. Mr. Aldrich for many years had had great 
influence in the framing of tariff acts, and w T as credited with 
an almost unrivalled store of knowledge on tariff questions. 
On that account he was particularly obnoxious to those Re- 
publicans who, while declaring themselves in favor of protective 
duties, protested against the recent tariff act. Mr. Hale shared 
with him the dislike of the insurgent body, in Congress and in 
the country, to a greater extent than any other senator, for he 
was a stanch and unyielding conservative. The retirement of 
two such men from the Senate was an event of considerable 
political importance. 

The " high cost of living " became about this time a cam- 
paign issue, welcomed with enthusiasm by Democrats, dreaded 
by Republicans. " Hard times " can always be employed with 
effect by the opposition as a weapon to defeat the party in 
power. The United States was not, in 1910, suffering from 
hard times as that phrase is usually understood. Business was 
good and employment at fair wages was ample. But the prices 
of food, clothing, and other necessaries of life were high and 
increasing, and it was easy to ascribe the movement to misrule 
by the dominant party. The cause of the existing condition 
was variously assigned to a dozen different causes by the eager 
disputants in the two parties ; but those who held the tariff to 
blame had the ear of the public more than — for example — 
those who discovered a world-misfortune in an increased pro- 
duction of gold. That statement is fortified by the result of a 
bye-election in the Fourteenth Congressional District of Mas- 
sachusetts, where a Democrat was elected by a rousing ma- 
jority, on the tariff issue, in a strong Republican constituency. 

The great event of the year, in a political sense, prior to the 
November elections, was the return of Colonel Roosevelt from 



226 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

his African hunt. He sailed from New York on March 24, 
1909, and arrived home on June 18, 1910, having closed his 
trip by receiving almost unexampled honors at the leading 
courts of Europe and in Great Britain. There was extraordinary 
interest in the country to learn what the ex-President thought 
of the administration of his successor, an interest that was not 
to be gratified for a long time. Perhap the student of politics 
will never know his real sentiments at the time of his return 
and for many months afterward, since it is possible to adduce 
equally good and equally first-hand evidence on either side of 
the question. There is no doubt that Roosevelt and Taft 
were exchanging cordially friendly letters during that period, 
and Mr. Roosevelt paid a visit to the President at his summer 
home in Beverly. There is, on the other hand, no doubt that 
Mr. Roosevelt was in close conference with leading men of the 
faction that was heaping abuse upon the President and accus- 
ing him of treachery to the benefactor to whom he owed his 
office. His political purposes, if at the time he had formed any 
such purposes, were, so far as appears, unknown to any one. In 
February, 1910, the President of the New York State League 
of Republican Clubs quoted Mr. Roosevelt as having said, be- 
fore his departure for Africa, that he was not a candidate for 
senator or for mayor, nor yet for the presidency in 1912 ; and 
he added, as of the time when he reported that statement, that 
R-oosevelt's friendship for the President was as clear and cor- 
dial as at any other time. If the significance of the remark be 
understood as referring to personal as distinguished from polit- 
ical sentiments, it was undoubtedly true. 

While the steamship on which he was returning to the United 
States was still at sea, Mr. Roosevelt sent a wireless message 
to the effect that "he will have nothing to say in the immedi- 
ate future about politics, and will hold no interview whatever 
on the subject with any one." Whether or not he was able to 
adhere strictly to the spirit of that resolution in the privacy of 
conversation with his many political friends who made pilgrim- 
ages to Oyster Bay, it is certain that he made no public utter- 
ances on national affairs, and that if he did express opinions 
confidentially to those friends they loyally observed his wish that 
they should keep the fact to themselves. They neither quoted 
him as approving their course nor shifted any responsibility 
for their conduct to his shoulders. But his reticence was not 
and was not promised to be of long duration. There was a di- 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 227 

vision of Republican sentiment in New York State, as there 
was throughout the country, and he could not hold back from 
joining in the fray. At the solicitation of Governor Hughes he 
undertook to promote the system of popular primary elections 
and other reforms urged by the governor. Accordingly he be- 
came a candidate for temporary chairman of the New York 
Republican State Convention. The State Central Committee 
proposed Vice-President Sherman for the position, and a fierce 
contest was thus precipitated. An attempt was made to create 
the impression that the President favored Mr. Sherman, but he 
promptly denied the truth of the rumor, and wrote, among 
other things, that when the suggestion came to him that Mr. 
Roosevelt should be the temporary chairman he not only ac- 
quiesced, but "it did not occur to me that any one would 
oppose it " ; that he first learned of the Sherman movement 
from the newspapers ; and that he had done all he could to 
prevent a contest. 

But there was a contest. The State Committee was de- 
feated, Mr. Roosevelt was made chairman, his friends controlled 
the convention and nominated the candidates. The split in the 
party — like that in other States — was not disruption, but it 
left one faction, the " Old Guard," sore and unenthusiastic for 
immediate party success. It became evident as the canvass pro- 
ceeded that the real question in the New York election was the 
predominance of Roosevelt in the politics of the State. That 
gentleman, roused to activity, made a speaking tour through 
the Middle West, where his utterances were so radical that the 
cynics accused him of having "stolen Bryan's thunder." 

Maine, in September, led the way in the Republican reverses 
in the elections of 1910. A Democratic governor and legisla- 
ture were chosen, also two of the four congressmen. Local issues, 
in Maine that of the prohibitory law, brought about or made 
more complete the Republican defeats in several States, but it is 
doubtful if the general result would have been reversed if those 
local issues had not so pertinaciously conspired against a sin- 
gle party. The Democratic candidates for governor were elected 
in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Ohio, North Da- 
kota, Colorado, and Oregon, all more or less trustworthy Re- 
publican States. In no less than nine States the legislatures 
chosen made certain the election of Democratic senators to suc- 
ceed Republicans, thus reducing the nominal Republican ma- 
jority by 18 and, considering the extremely independent atti- 



228 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

tude of the insurgents, virtually wiping it out altogether. The 
official figures, after the senators were elected, gave the numbers 
as 51 Republicans ; 41 Democrats. The House of Representa- 
tives suffered a revolution. The Republican majority of 40 
disappeared, and the new House consisted of 223 Democrats 
and 168 Republicans — a Democratic majorityof 55. 

One of the most important events of the election, in its 
bearing upon the future political history of the country, was 
the election of the President of Princeton University as Gov- 
ernor of New Jersey. Mr. Woodrow Wilson, a southerner by 
birth, professor and afterward president of a university, had 
never before been a candidate for public office. Political con- 
ditions in New Jersey had been for many years regarded as 
intolerable by a large and increasing number of the voters on 
both sides ; and although neither party was free from blame in 
the matter, it was the Republicans who were then in power, 
and were therefore held responsible, if not for introducing the 
evil, at least for not having removed it. Mr. Wilson, as the 
Democratic candidate for governor, made a stirring and success- 
ful campaign and, in a State which gave Taft, two years before, 
a plurality of nearly 83,000, obtained a plurality of 49,000 over 
his Republican opponent. His achievement as a campaigner 
was followed by even greater success in extorting from a reluc- 
tant legislature the enactments which he advocated and the 
defeat of men and measures that he opposed. He thus became 
in a short time one of the most conspicuous figures in the 
political world, and some political prophets already named him 
" the next President of the United States." 

However little influence the real merits of the Taft admin- 
istration may have had in determining the issue of the ensuing 
presidential election, it is but just to mention certain items 
that must be entered to its credit. Very early in the adminis- 
tration an appointment was made in one of the western States 
on the recommendation of the governor, who boasted openly 
that he had obtained it over the wishes of the two senators. 
Thereupon the President revoked the appointment, in order to 
make it known that he would not be a consenting party to 
factional contests in any State. It was an incidental result of 
his action in this case that the governor became one of the 
most violent opponents of Mr. Taft when his term was expir- 
ing. The President's opposition to the spoils system in the 
civil service was of long standing, and at no time was he 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 229 

accused even of lukewarmness in favor of a non-partisan admin- 
istration of that service. He took a long step in advance when 
he transferred the second- and third-class postmasterships to 
the classified service. His lack of extreme partisanship was 
exhibited conspicuously in his judicial appointments, for he 
promoted Mr. Justice White, a Louisiana Democrat, to the 
position of Chief Justice, and added two other southern Demo- 
crats to the court to fill vacancies. The designation of Gov- 
ernor Hughes to the bench, which was generally applauded, 
was, of course, not a non-partisan act. 

During the final session of the Sixty-first Congress a new 
grievance against the administration made its appearance. The 
Postmaster-General strongly urged an increase of the postage 
rates on certain " second-class matter." The project was not 
new. Successive postmasters- general had asserted, backing up 
their statement with official statistics, that the rate of one cent 
a pound was a losing rate, and the sole cause of the postal defi- 
cit. But Mr. Hitchcock's bow was not drawn at a venture. 
His arrow had a definite aim at a group of cheap monthly 
magazines with a minimum of reading matter and a great bulk 
of advertising pages. At any rate, that was the way it was in- 
terpreted in many quarters. Some of those magazines had been 
conspicuously active and zealous in attacking the " trusts " 
and prominent " plutocrats " and in advocacy of the current 
progressive policies. It was bluntly charged that the move- 
ment to increase the postal rate was motived and backed by 
the " interests " that would put a stop to the progressive cam- 
paign, and assisted by the " magazine trust," in order to ren- 
der the publication of the cheap magazines unprofitable — an 
accusation that carried with it an implication that the adminis- 
tration was hopelessly reactionary. In the end the attempt to 
raise the postal rate failed. 

The most important event in the larger politics of the year 
1911 was the ultimately abortive attempt to establish reci- 
procity with the Dominion of Canada. The movement had its 
origin in that feature of the Payne-Aldrich tariff act of 1909 
which provided maximum and minimum rates of duty accord- 
ing to the liberality of the tariff laws of other countries toward 
the admission of American products. Canada granted to Great 
Britain a preferential rate on a large variety of imports from 
the mother country. It became, therefore, a fair object for the 
maximum rates under the new law. But the trade of Canada 



230 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

with the United States was exceedingly large in spite of the 
hostile tariffs of both countries, and there was really no de- 
sire on the part of any one to obstruct it further by heavier 
import duties. President Taft, in March, 1910, sounded Mr. 
Fielding, the Canadian Minister of Finance, on the subject, 
and found him favorably disposed to make some concessions 
that would enable this government to grant the minimum rates 
to the Dominion. Subsequently the two men met at Albany, 
and the suggestion of a reciprocity arrangement was made and 
received with favor. Representatives of both governments met 
in the autumn, and after long conferences reached an agree- 
ment on January 26, 1911. In brief, it provided for free 
trade between the two countries in most of the natural prod- 
ducts and raw materials of manufacture, and substantial reduc- 
tions of duties on a considerable list of manufactured goods. 
The President sent the agreement to Congress at once. Its 
form was skilfully chosen. It was not a treaty or convention, 
the ratification of which would require the consent of two- 
thirds of the Senate, the House of Representatives having no 
voice in the matter at that stage ; yet it would not be effective 
until an act to carry it into effect should be passed by both 
branches. It was an agreement in identical language that both 
governments should endeavor to obtain from their legislatures 
the modifications of their tariffs proposed. 

Opposition to the measure developed instantly. The ex- 
treme advocates of a protective tariff were against it as a mat- 
ter of course, and they were joined by a great body of farmers 
in the Northwest who feared the competition of the Canadian 
grain and other agricultural products. The farmers were sup- 
ported by the insurgent congressmen from that region, who 
were in favor of a low tariff, but not as applied to their local 
products. The Democrats generally favored the measure, and 
so did many Republicans. Except in interested and official 
circles the movement was received either with manifestations 
of approval or with indifference. The bill to carry the agree- 
ment into effect so far as the United States was concerned 
was debated for about a fortnight, and was then passed on 
February 14 by a vote of 221 to 93. The negative votes came 
almost altogether from the Republican side of the House. Only 
eighteen days of the session, and of the term of the Sixty-first 
Congress, remained, and the bill was not brought to a vote in 
the Senate. 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 231 

The President was most earnest in the matter of Canadian 
reciprocity and summoned Congress to meet in special session 
on April 4. The new House of Representatives was strongly 
Democratic, as has been noted, and in the Senate the group 
of insurgent senators held the balance of power, which they ex- 
ercised much more frequently in opposition to the party to 
which they were nominally attached than in its favor. The 
bill to make the agreement effective was introduced at once, 
promptly reported to the House, debated from April 13 to 
April 20, and then passed by a vote of 267 to 89, a division 
that closely resembled that in the preceding Congress, in that 
the minority consisted chiefly of Republicans, many of whom 
nevertheless supported the bill. The Senate passed it by a 
vote of 53 to 27. Twelve " regular " and twelve "insurgent" 
Republicans were in the negative. 

The action, or rather the failure to act, on the agreement by 
the Canadian Parliament is not a part of American political 
history, yet the connection of American public men with the 
result cannot be omitted from the record. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the 
premier under whose leadership the Dominion Cabinet consented 
to the agreement, had long been in favor of the reciprocity 
policy, and so was the Liberal majority of the House of Com- 
mons. Sir Wilfrid seems to have entertained no doubt of his 
ability to carry the measure through Parliament, particularly 
since it had at the outset not a little support from members 
of the Conservative party. But Mr. Borden, the leader of the 
Opposition, saw his opportunity to perform the appropriate duty 
of an opposition, to oppose, and made the most of it. The 
most formidable campaign of obstruction in the parliamentary 
history of the continent was organized. There is no limitation 
of debate in the Canadian House of Commons ; there were 
ninety Conservative members of the body ; and a speech, as 
long and tedious as he could make it, was expected from each 
of them. Sir Wilfrid, unable to bring the bill to a vote, was 
compelled to yield at last. He dissolved Parliament and ordered 
a general election. 

It is probable that the government would have suffered de- 
feat in any event, since it aroused the determined opposition 
of those interests in Canada that upheld the " national policy," 
that is, the system of protection, as essential to the well-being 
of the country. Moreover, many elements of discontent had 
developed during the long years of Liberal ascendancy. But 



232 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

the victory of Mr. Borden was made certain by the adroit use 
of an appeal to Canadian patriotism, in two forms. Giving tariff 
favors to the United States was withdrawing favors already 
granted to the mother country. More important, it was vehe- 
mently urged that entering into the arrangement with this 
country was the first fatal step on the road that led to com- 
mercial subjection, and ultimately to annexation to the big 
republic. That was a triple appeal to national self -interest, 
patriotism, and fear. Much was made of one or two — there 
were hardly more — flamboyant speeches by Americans, which 
were taken as evidence that there was really a movement on 
foot to seize Canada, and that the reciprocity agreement was 
preliminary to it. Yet the speeches referred to were made by 
persons who were not in official or even party relations with 
the administration. The President, in a letter which was made 
public, declared that the agreement had no political significance, 
that no thought of future annexation was in the mind of the 
negotiators on either side, and " that Canada is now, and will 
remain, a political unit.' 7 Nevertheless, the creators of Cana- 
dian suspicion caught up and repeated, as a refutation of the 
foregoing statement, a remark by the President, in one of his 
western speeches, that " Canada is at the parting of the ways/ 7 
a remark that, whatever it does mean, had in it no suggestion 
of future annexation. The patriotic campaign was successful. 
Mr. Borden was returned to Parliament in the September elec- 
tions at the head of a majority of more than sixty opponents 
of reciprocity, and the policy was dropped. 

The Democratic majority of the House of Representatives 
lost no time in letting its tariff purposes become known. Bills 
to reduce or abrogate the duties on many articles used by farm- 
ers, — " the farmers' free list," — a new wool and woolens tariff, 
and amendments to the cotton, chemical, steel, and machinery 
schedules, were passed, in the Senate, by the help of practically 
the whole body of progressive senators, were all vetoed by the 
President, and failed to pass over the veto. An act was passed 
apportioning representatives among the States according to the , 
Census of 1910. 

An important incident in the anti-trust campaign, at this 
time, the winter of 1910, — was the decision of the Supreme 
Court in the appealed cases of the American Tobacco Com- 
pany and the Standard Oil Company, which companies were 
ordered to be dissolved. The judgments, which were delivered by 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 233 

Chief Justice White, introduced the principle of the u . rule of 
reason" in interpreting the "Sherman" act. That law con- 
demns combinations and contracts il in restraint of trade " 
unequivocally, and attempted or accomplished monopoly indis- 
criminately. The Court held, however, in effect, that since the 
law applied to all kinds of contracts and combinations, it nec- 
essarily called for the exercise of judgment, and " that the 
criterion to be resorted to in any given case for the purpose of 
ascertaining whether violations of the section have been com- 
mitted is the rule of reason guided by the established law and 
by the plain duty to enforce the provisions of the act." Eight 
of the nine justices concurred in the judgments, which were 
extremely displeasing to the advocates of uncompromising meas- 
ures against all trusts, and led to violent political attacks upon 
the Court. Unsuccessful attempts were made to amend the law 
so as to apply its principles without exception to all combina- 
tions, eliminating " the rule of reason." 

During the final session of the Sixty-first Congress, in Jan- 
uary, 1911, the National Republican Progressive League was 
formed. Among its members and officers were nine senators, 
thirteen representatives, and five western governors, all of 
whom were nominally Republicans. Its political programme in- 
cluded the direct popular election of United States senators; 
popular primary elections in lieu of the caucus ; direct election 
of delegates to national conventions; the initiative, referendum, 
and recall ; and stringent laws against corrupt practices in elec- 
tions. The most of those measures, if not all of them, were at 
that time hardly recognized as leading aspira f ions of the Re- 
publican party. In fact there was truth in the remark of one 
newspaper that the programme was "substantially identical, 
so far as it goes, with that of the now defunct Populist party." 
The League made no secret of its opposition to Taft. -That the 
breach of 1912 was foreseen as a possibility in the spring of 
1911, and that in some quarters it was contemplated with 
equanimity, is shown by a sentence in the May number of a 
magazine devoted to the Progressive cause : " It requires no 
very vivid imagination to see the Progressives in that conven- 
tion, baffled in their efforts to control the party, marching out 
of the hall to form a convention of their own." 

The League did not formally " endorse " any candidate for 
the presidency, but did let it be known that many of the mem- 
bers regarded Senator La Pollette as the " logical " candidate. 



234 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Mr. La Follette, in June, announced his candidacy and his in- 
tention "to battle to the end with the ' intrenched army' of 
President Taft." Mr. Roosevelt gave no sign of his own inten- 
tions or preferences, but did give out, in April, that he was 
"not a candidate," and that if any of his real friends were to 
seek to make him a candidate they would do him a " cruel in- 
justice." Still later, in December, he announced that he would 
not support any man for the nomination, neither Mr. Taft nor 
any one else, and that he never gave Mr. Taft any offer or 
pledge of support. "As for himself," it was declared in a 
Philadelphia newspaper devoted to his fortunes, " Colonel 
Boose velt is not a candidate and has not been." He had re- 
peatedly discouraged attempts to bring him forward. " He 
says, and wishes the statement to be accepted at its full value 
and unequivocal meaning, that he desires talk of his supposed 
candidacy to cease." 

The President made an extensive tour of the country dur- 
ing the autumn of 1911 — a tour which involved thirteen 
thousand miles of travel and included visits to Seattle and Los 
Angeles on the Pacific. He made more than two hundred 
speeches in about half as many cities. Although he addressed 
sympathetic audiences he did not delude himself with the idea 
that all was well with him politically. Indeed, at the close of 
his journey he let it be known by a semi-jocular, semi-serious 
remark that he expected defeat in the election of the next year. 

It was an " off-year " in politics. That is, there were no 
important State elections, and the result of those that took 
place was indecisive. The Republicans recovered the legisla- 
tures of New York and New Jersey, but suffered a severe de- 
feat in Ohio. Maryland elected a Republican governor, but 
Massachusetts reelected Governor Foss, the Democratic candi- 
date. National issues played a subordinate part in most of the 
States mentioned. Consequently the division in the Republican 
party, which was notorious, did not make itself manifest at the 
polls in November. Tammany, in New York ; resentment in 
certain quarters of Governor Wilson's energetic management 
of the New Jersey legislature ; the much-criticised candidacy 
of a Republican " boss" in Ohio ; and other local issues in the 
other States fully account for the action of the voters. 

The second session of the Sixty-second Congress began on 
December 4, 1911, and ended on the 12th of the following 
August. It was comparatively fruitless of important general 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 235 

legislation, as is usually true of the " long " session preceding 
a presidential canvass. As before, the Democrats had no diffi- 
culty in obtaining a majority for their own party measures in 
either branch. Consequently the fiction that the House was 
Democratic and the Senate Republican does not account for 
the meagre toll of enactment. An eight-hour-law for govern- 
ment employes, an act for the government and management of 
the Panama Canal when it should be finished, and the submis- 
sion to the State legislatures of an amendment to the Consti- 
tution providing for the popular election of senators, were the 
leading successful measures of the session. The Panama Canal 
act introduced the principle of the free use of the waterway by 
American vessels engaged in the " coastwise " trade, — that is, 
for ships sailing between such ports as New York and Seattle, 
— a provision which was abrogated during the next adminis- 
tration. Bills were also passed by both Houses reducing import 
duties in the wool, cotton, and steel schedules, all of which were 
supported by nearly all the Progressive Republican senators. 
They were all vetoed by the President. Some of them were passed 
by the House over the veto, but all failed in the Senate. 

At the beginning of the year 1912 the situation in the Re- 
publican party seemed to be of the worst. Mr. La Follette was 
delivering a series of speeches in which he advocated all the 
constitutional innovations which are distinctively known as 
" Progressive," and assailed the President with virulence. The 
President, with his back to the wall, as he himself expressed 
it, declared that " nothing but death can keep me out of the 
fight now." Mr. Roosevelt, who, in December, had almost im- 
patiently demanded that all talk of his candidacy should cease, 
in the middle of January let it be known to his friends through 
a Pittsburgh editor, his supporter, that he would not desert the 
Progressive cause, and that he would be found fighting side by 
side with them to the finish. At the end of the same month 
he made a public explanation that his statement, in 1904, that 
he would not accept another nomination really meant that he 
would not accept such a nomination while holding the office of 
President. " It had no application whatever to the candidacy 
of a man who was not at the time in office, whether he had or 
had not been President before." In February there came to 
him the famous request from seven Republican governors that 
he accept the nomination. They were the governors of West 
Virginia, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Michigan, 



236 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Kansas, and Missouri. They expressed their belief that a large 
majority of the Republican voters of the country favored his 
nomination, and a large majority of the people favored his 
election ; that his candidacy would insure success ; that " you 
represent, as no other man represents, those principles and 
policies upon which we must appeal for a majority of the votes 
of the American people, and which, in our opinion, are neces- 
sary for the happiness and prosperity of the country." On 
February 25 Mr. Roosevelt replied. "I will accept the nomi- 
nation," he wrote, " if it is tendered to me, and I will adhere to 
this decision until the convention has expressed its preference." 

Meanwhile, early in February, Senator La Follette suffered 
a severe nervous collapse which became manifest while he was 
making a speech in Philadelphia, and as a result of his condi- 
tion some of his most prominent supporters transferred their 
allegiance to Mr. Roosevelt, to whose fortunes, indeed, they 
had always been attached. Mr. La Follette refused to withdraw 
his candidacy, and his friends were extremely resentful toward 
Roosevelt himself. His campaign manager published a state- 
ment that it was by the direct encouragement of the ex-Presi- 
dent and that of his friends that Mr. La Follette had entered 
the field, that he had prepared the way for a successful Pro- 
gressive canvass, and that Mr. Roosevelt's course was not 
giving La Follette "a square deal." 

The factional antagonisms in the Republican party in the 
spring of 1912 clearly indicated that it had ceased to be in a 
real sense a single party. The two wings of the party were no 
longer fighting a common enemy, their traditional opponent, 
but were hurling at each other accusations and vituperative 
phrases exceeding in intensity of violence all that had been 
said against the Democrats. A volume might be filled with ex- 
tracts from the speeches of public men and from the news- 
paper press to show the heated condition of the public mind, 
but this is no place for them. One specimen from each side, 
and those by no means the most savage in tone, will suffice. 
President Taft, in a speech before the New York Republican 
Clubs, on Lincoln's birthday, referred to those " who look upon 
the present situation as one of evil and corruption and as the 
tyranny of concentrated wealth," and who undertake to pull 
down the pillars of the temple of freedom and representative 
government, as " political emotionalists and neurotics." A 
Philadelphia newspaper supporting Mr. Roosevelt retorted, in 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 237 

denunciation of the President, that what the Progressives "at 
first took for temporary weakness they have now discovered to be 
political paranoia." So each faction was — charitably — ascrib- 
ing the conduct of the other to insanity, which is an unavoidable 
mental state, whether in an individual or in a party organization. 

It was not all vituperation. The Progressives realized that 
victory was not to be achieved by passion alone. The Presi- 
dent had been elected by a united party, and a reason was re- 
quired why the confidence originally reposed in him should be 
withdrawn. Such reason was not necessary for all who styled 
themselves Progressives. There was a large number of men in 
all the northern States whose opinions may be thus summar- 
ized : " President Eoosevelt aroused the country to the impera- 
tive need of certain reforms. Owing to his limitation, by his 
own act, to two terms of the presidency, his full progressive 
programme could not be carried into effect during his incum- 
bency of that office. In order to insure its completion he chose 
Mr. Taft as his successor, and by his influence secured his 
nomination. The people, trusting to his judgment, believing 
that Taft shared the views and would continue the policies of 
his predecessor, elected him. They did not entrust to him his 
own interpretation of the condition of the country, the temper 
of the people, and the extent and limitation of the legislation 
required ; they gave him a mandate to carry on the policies of 
the Eoosevelt administration as Eoosevelt himself would have 
done. In so far as he has failed to efface himself and substitute 
Eoosevelt's judgment for his own, he is a traitor and an in- 
grate toward his i creator.' " 

Both those who took that peculiar view of the continuing 
authority of an ex-President, and those who realized that sound 
reasons must be presented for refusing to a President the usual 
re nomination, were vague in their specifications of his short- 
comings. They could not allege that there had been less vigor 
in the prosecution of the trusts than there had been in the 
previous administration, either in the number of suits or in the 
vigilance of the Department of Justice. If they asked why this 
trust or that was not indicted, precisely the same question might 
have been asked four years earlier. Moreover, the list of social 
and business reforms urged and accomplished under Taft was 
as long and as important as stood to the credit of Eoosevelt ; 
and where there had been failures they were to be charged 
against Congress and not against the President. 



238 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

The truth was that wholly aside from his acts his Repub- 
lican opponents suspected that the attitude of his mind was 
less radical than that of Roosevelt ; and in that suspicion they 
were undoubtedly correct. Entertaining it, they were justified 
in their opposition to him. Furthermore, they were justified 
in turning to Roosevelt, for in their opinion, in which also they 
were correct, he was the only man who could be trusted to carry 
out his own policies. What may, with some reserve, be taken 
for Mr. Roosevelt's reasons for opposing Taft, are to be found 
in an article in the " Outlook " in February, 1912, before the 
extraordinary outbreak of passion on the one side and the other. 
For although the article does not appear as the work of Mr. 
Roosevelt, his relation of contributing editor to the periodical 
at least suggests that it would not have been printed without 
consultation with him. There were three counts in the indict- 
ment against the President : " that he has allowed himself to 
become identified in the public mind with those elements in his 
party which have been frankly opposed to progress"; " the 
people have come to regard the President as being interested 
more in the machinery of government than in the promotion of 
human welfare" ; " the people have come to feel that President 
Taft is primarily an interpreter of laws rather than an admin- 
istrator of laws. " It all comes to a criticism of the bent of his 
mind, and implies — if, indeed, it was approved by the con- 
tributing editor — that Roosevelt found that he had been mis- 
taken in his understanding of a man with whom he had been 
on terms of intimacy ever since 1890, when they were both 
officers of the government, in Washington, a period of more 
than twenty years. 

The complete antagonism of their minds is illustrated by 
Roosevelt's speech in Columbus, February 21, before the Ohio 
Constitutional Convention, proposing the " recall of judicial 
decisions, " and Taft's reply to it. But it is needless to follow 
the wordy warfare, which became more and more rancorous 
as the canvass proceeded, both before and after the sessions of 
the nominating conventions, until the election itself, and was 
characterized by far more recklessness of language on the part 
of the newspapers and of the irresponsible stump speakers 
than on that of the two chief controversialists. 

Among the Progressive measures popular at the time was 
that of primary elections as a substitute for the caucus and the 
convention ; and a favorite feature of the proposed modification 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 



239 



of the political machinery was the " preferential presidential pri- 
mary," by means of which the members of a party in a State 
were to express by direct voting their choice of a candidate for 
President. The legislatures of several of the States had enacted 
laws for such expressions of preference. The idea was compara- 
tively novel and had not been carefully thought out in any State. 
There was no uniformity in the laws, and one and all they 
developed defects. Some of them were so drawn that it was 
easy for adroit politicians to render it impossible for the members 
of a party to register their preferences freely. In other States the 
drafting was so loose — as in Massachusetts and Maryland — 
that a majority of the voters could express a preference for one 
candidate, and at the same election choose delegates pledged 
to the fortunes of the other. Inasmuch as in eleven of the 
twelve States in which primaries were held the result was ad- 
verse to Taft, and in nine of them strongly in favor of Roose- 
velt, the partisans of the former President naturally and justi- 
fiably made the most of it. 

The State of North Dakota led off in the voting, on March 
19, and gave a surprising result. Mr. La Follette had a plurality 
of more than ten thousand over Roosevelt, and Taft was "no- 
where," — his total vote being less than four per cent of those 
cast for the three candidates. The other primary elections con- 
tinued until May. There are some minor differences in the re- 
turns as published in the almanacs and year-books, but the 
following table is sufficiently accurate. It shows not only the 
vote for the several candidates and the total vote cast, but also 
the combined vote for Roosevelt and Taft at the election in 
November : — 



State 


Primary Elections 


November 


Roosevelt 


Taft 


La Follette 


Total 


Total 




138,563 

266,917 
29,194 
83,099 
46,795 
61,297 
23,669 

165,809 
28,905 

298,962 
35,637 
• 628 


69,345 

127,481 

26,068 

86,722 

13,241 

44,034 

1,876 

118,362 

20,517 

193,063 

9,843 

47,514 


45,876 
42,692 

2,058 
16,785 

3,464 
34,123 
15,570 
22,491 

17,821 
133,354 


253,784 
437,090 

55,262 
171,879 

76,921 
108,795 

59,868 
299,741 

71,913 
492,025 

63,391 
181,496 


287,549 
631,091 
112,744 
299,176 
127,124 
234,245 

47,460 
506,403 

72,273 






Massachusetts 


New Jersey 

North Dakota 

Ohio 




Pennsylvania 

South Dakota 

Wisconsin 


720,731 
57,630 
189,539 



240 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

A study of the table reveals some interesting features. The 
result in California, Oregon, and Wisconsin appears, compar- 
ing the total vote at the primaries and that at the subsequent 
election, to have been a fair expression of the will of the Re- 
publican voters, save that in Wisconsin those voters did not have 
a chance to vote for Roosevelt, because his name was not on 
the ballot. It may have been the fact that only 628 voters in 
that State were in favor of him, but it does not seem probable. 
It was openly charged that Democrats in large numbers took 
part in the Republican primaries in Oregon and the two Da- 
kotas. The accusation derives some probability from the fact 
that twelve thousand more votes were cast in North Dakota 
in the primaries than in the keenly contested election in No- 
vember, and more than five thousand more in South Dakota. 
Any other explanation leaves much to be explained. 

The natural criticism upon the result in the other seven 
States is quite different. The primaries did not give a clear 
expression of the opinions of the Republican voters, because 
about two of every five did not take the opportunity to record 
his wish. The aggregate of votes at the primaries was 1,641,- 
713, and at the election 2,631,514, — almost a million more. 
It is a commonplace in political campaigning that there is a 
great advantage to a party in the creation, or the existence, of a 
popular impression that it is having things all its own way, that 
" it is all over but the shouting." Such an impression among 
Republicans undoubtedly existed in the spring of 1912, and while 
it does not account for the general result in the choice of delegates 
to the national convention and in the subsequent election, it 
easily accounts for the sweeping character of the revolution in 
the party and the unexampled thoroughness of its defeat. 

The Republican National Convention was called on Decem- 
ber 12, 1911, to meet on the 18th of June following. In all the 
States there were exciting struggles between the opposing fac- 
tions for the choice of delegates. Certain forms of political tac- 
tics which are fair and honorable, or unfair and dishonorable, 
according to your association with the faction that practises 
them or with that which suffers from them, were employed, 
possibly by each faction, as it had the opportunity : whence 
many contested elections the decision of which gave a foun- 
dation for the accusation of a fraudulent nomination — an 
accusation that would have been made by the other faction if 
the decisions had been against it. 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 241 

The situation in the southern States was scandalous, — had 
been so for many years. In about half of them the Republican 
party was practically non-existent, yet under the uniform prac- 
tice each State was entitled to twice as many delegates as its 
representation in Congress. Under that practice South Caro- 
lina, which gave Taft 3963 votes in 1908, was entitled to two 
more delegates than Connecticut, which gave him 112,815. 
The average vote for Taft in ten of the southern States, in 
1908, was less than 4500 to a congressional district. In fact 
the Republican organization was maintained chiefly with a 
view to give its managers the offices, or the disposal of them, 
in the control of the national administration. The South was 
thus an attractive field to be worked by the agents or support- 
ers of rival candidates for the presidential nomination, had 
been successfully worked on more than one occasion, was so 
worked in 1908. Undoubtedly the " organization " or the 
u machine," in those States was in the hands of the " regulars," 
who were, as beneficiaries of the existing administration, and 
anxious to retain what they had, favorable to the renomination 
of Taft, and in a position to control the local conventions. It 
was therefore obviously the indicated strategy of the support- 
ers of Roosevelt to organize as many bolts and bring about as 
many contests for seats in the convention as possible ; just as 
the opponents of the nomination of Mr. Taft had done four 
years before. 

In accordance with custom the National Committee met 
some days before the date set for the convention, to prepare a 
temporary roll of delegates. That brought before the commit- 
tee the question of contested seats, which were more numerous 
than ever before. A large number of them were so obviously 
trumped up that they were not pressed, but there were also 
many which gave room for reasonable doubt where justice lay. 
In making the temporary roll the committee decided nearly 
all the contests in favor of the Taft delegates. The Roosevelt 
party maintained that if the decisions had been justly made 
the organization of the convention would have been controlled 
by them and the whole course of the subsequent canvass 
would have been different. The subject of the contested seats 
is considered later ; but it is as impossible now as it was when 
the convention was in session to ascertain where the ultimate 
truth lies. 

A brief summary of the facts relating to the Republican 



242 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

National Convention of 1912 will indicate the difficulty of 
presenting a clear and unchallengeable account of its proceed- 
ings within permissible limits of space. It was in session five 
days, June 18-22, and a little more than thirty-five hours in 
all. The official report of its proceedings fills a volume of 450 
pages. On the first day the temporary chairman was elected, 
after a heated contest, in which the whole question of the 
temporary roll was the matter at issue. The wrangle on the 
same point was continued and concluded on the second day, 
after which the usual committees were appointed. The Com- 
mittee on Credentials not being ready to report, no business 
was transacted on the third day. Consideration of that report 
and action upon contested seats occupied the whole of the fourth 
day and a part of the fifth, so that it was not until the middle 
of the last day of the convention that a permanent organiza- 
tion was effected. The adoption of the platform and the nomi- 
nation of candidates — the real work of the convention — were 
the business of the few remaining hours. 

To recur to the beginning of the session, an attempt was 
made immediately upon the opening to amend the temporary 
roll by substituting the names of seventy-two contestants, in 
eleven States, for those upon that roll. The motion was de- 
clared out of order, the first business being the choice of a 
temporary chairman. The roll — the temporary roll already 
mentioned — was called amid great confusion and shouts of 
"robbers," "thieves," "steam-roller," etc., with the follow- 
ing result : Elihu Root, of New York, had 558 votes ; Francis 
E. McGovern, of Wisconsin, 501 ; scattering and not voting, 
19. Governor McGovern was the candidate of the La Follette 
men, adopted by the supporters of Roosevelt. Mr. Root, on 
taking the chair, was greeted with cries of " Receiver of stolen 
goods!" In the opening of his address he referred, without 
partisanship, to the contest between the factions ; but the rest 
of the speech was such as might have been delivered previous 
to the factional division of the party. Lafayette B. Gleason, 
of New York, was made temporary secretary, and several days 
later the temporary organization was made permanent. 

Immediately after the business of organizing was completed, 
the motion for an amendment of the temporary roll was renewed, 
but was postponed until the next day, when a six hours' debate, 
equally divided between the two sides, was agreed upon. The 
point of order was raised that no delegate whose seat was con- 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 243 

tested should be allowed to vote in the decision of the right 
to any contested seat ; but the point was overruled. At the end 
of the debate the motion for a revision of the roll was defeated, 
567 to 507, and the usual committees were then appointed. 
The most of the fourth and fifth days of the session were con- 
sumed in hearing and acting upon the reports of the Committee 
on Credentials on the contested seats. Although the action of 
the Convention was made the justification of the resolution of 
the Roosevelt faction to withdraw from participation in the 
further proceedings, there was not then, and of course there 
never can be, evidence so conclusive as to enable a candid and 
unbiassed student to prove absolutely whether justice was or 
was not done. Nevertheless, it will not be useless to make a 
brief analysis of the cases. 

As nearly as can be made out, from the somewhat confused 
reports, there were in all 210 nominally contested seats in 
the full convention of 1078 members. Of the whole number, 
108 were abandoned by the contestants, and were not even 
brought before the National Committee. All but two of those 
abandoned contests were in southern States — 24 from Georgia, 
14 from Louisiana, 16 from Virginia, 10 from Florida. The 
evident purpose was to have as many contests as possible to be 
ready for contingencies. The Committee on Credentials passed 
separately upon the remaining 102 contests, and made reports 
upon them. No less than 62 again were from southern States : 
as to 40 of the whole number there was no minority report; 
the action of the committee and of the convention was unani- 
mous. That leaves 62 as the maximum number on which a 
grievance seems possible. The Committee on Credentials pre- 
sented statements in detail of the evidence on which it made 
its reports upon those contests. In the cases of 36 of them 
the minority made no contradictory statements, but contented 
themselves with protests against certain members of the com- 
mittee, three of them as being chosen by delegates whose seats 
were contested, and five as having been members of the National 
Committee -which prepared the temporary roll. In none of those 
cases did they dispute the statements on which the majority of 
the committee reached its decision, but in every one they re- 
ported that the contestant was entitled to the seat. Of course 
that does not make it certain that the statements made by the 
majority members were uniformly true, and that the decision 
was right, but it does create a presumption to that effect. 



244 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

There are now left 26 of the total of 210 threatened contests 
that had substance enough to elicit contradictory statements by 
the committeemen representing the two candidates. Mr. Root 
had 38 majority over all others in the election of temporary 
chairman. If all the 26 really contested seats had been awarded to 
the contestants and had all voted for McGovern, he would have 
had 527 to Root's 532, and Root would still have been elected. 
The statement in that form assumes what can be neither proved 
nor disapproved, that every one of the 26 cases that were re- 
ported with "statements of facts," was wrongly decided, and 
that there was no merit in any of the 36 cases in regard to 
which the minority presented no contradiction of the state- 
ments by the majority of the committee. 

The most of the genuine contests turned upon circumstances 
in the conduct of conventions, that in Texas on "boss-rule." 
The California case, the most interesting of all, and that 
which gave the Roosevelt men their most useful grievance, 
arose from these facts : The call for the National Convention 
provided that delegates should be chosen in conformity with 
State laws, but " that in no State can an election be so 
held as to prevent the delegates from any congressional 
district and their alternates being selected by the Repub- 
lican electors of that district." After the call was issued 
the California legislature passed a law providing for the 
election of all the delegates to a party convention to which 
the State was entitled by primaries on a single ticket. At the 
primaries a full set of Roosevelt delegates was chosen over the 
Taft ticket, by a majority of about 77,000. The Republicans 
of the Fourth District then held a separate election, and chose 
Taft delegates. It was a fine question, capable of being reason- 
ably decided either way, whether the State of California could 
reimpose upon a Republican National Convention the " unit 
rule," which it had deliberately and forever discarded in 1880, 
or whether the Republicans of the Fourth California District 
could defy and override the law of a " sovereign " State. Two 
votes only were at stake, but the delegates lined up for the 
most part as party men do on contested seats in a legislature. 
The vote was the closest during the entire sessions of the con- 
vention. The Taft delegates were seated, 542 to 529. 

Immediately after the work of constituting the permanent 
convention was completed, the following statement from Theo- 
dore Roosevelt was read by a Kansas delegate : — 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 245 

A clear majority of the delegates honestly elected to this con- 
vention were chosen by the people to nominate. Under the direc- 
tion, and with the encouragement of Mr. Taft, the majority of the 
National Committee, by the so-called " steam roller " methods, and 
with scandalous disregard of every principle of elementary honesty 
and decency, stole eighty or ninety delegates, putting on the tem- 
porary roll-call a sufficient number of fraudulent delegates to de- 
feat the legally expressed will of the people, and to substitute a 
dishonest for an honest majority. 

The convention has now declined to purge the roll of the fraud- 
ulent delegates placed thereon by the defunct National Committee, 
and the majority which thus endorsed fraud was made a majority 
only because it included the fraudulent delegates themselves, who 
all sat as judges on one another's cases. If these fraudulent votes 
had not thus been cast and counted, the convention would have 
been purged of their presence. This action makes the convention 
in no proper sense any longer a Republican convention represent- 
ing the real Republican party. Therefore I hope the men elected 
as Roosevelt delegates will now decline to vote on any matter before 
the convention. I do not release any delegate from his honorable 
obligation to vote for me if he votes at all, but under the actual 
conditions, I hope that he will not vote at all. 

The convention as now composed has no claim to represent the 
voters of the Republican party. It represents nothing but success- 
ful fraud in overriding the will of the rank and file of the party. 
Any man nominated by the convention as now constituted would 
be merely the beneficiary of this successful fraud ; it would be 
deeply discreditable to any man to accept the convention's nomina- 
tion under these circumstances, and any man thus accepting it 
would have no claim to the support of any Republican on party 
grounds, and would have forfeited the right to ask the support of 
any honest man of any party on moral grounds. 

During the further proceedings of the convention the Roose- 
velt delegates for the most part abstained from voting, in 
accordance with the foregoing statement. 

The Committee on Resolutions reported the following plat- 
form : — 

The Republican party, assembled by its representatives in na- 
tional convention, declares its unchanging faith in government of 
the people, by the people, for the people. We renew our allegiance 
to the principles of the Republican party and our devotion to the 
cause of Republican institutions established by the fathers. 

It is appropriate that we should now recall with a sense of ven- 
eration and gratitude the name of our first great leader, who was 



246 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

nominated in this city, and whose lofty principles and superb de- 
votion to his country are an inspiration to the party he honored — 
Abraham Lincoln. 

In the present state of public affairs we should be inspired by 
his broad statesmanship and by his tolerant spirit toward men. 

The Republican party looks back on its record with pride and 
satisfaction and forward to its new responsibilities with hope and 
confidence. Its achievements in government constitute the most 
luminous pages in our history. Our greatest national advance has 
been made during the years of its ascendancy in public affairs. It 
has been genuinely and always a party of progress ; it has never 
been either stationary or reactionary. It has gone from the fulfil- 
ment of one great pledge to the fulfilment of another in response 
to the public need and to the popular will. 

We believe in our self-contr oiled representative democracy, which 
is a government of laws, not of men, and in which order is the pre- 
requisite of progress. The principles of constitutional government, 
which make provisions for orderly and effective expression of the 
popular will, for the protection of civil liberty and the rights of 
men and for the interpretation of the law by an untrammelled and 
independent judiciary, have proved themselves capable of sustain- 
ing the structure of a government which, after more than a cen- 
tury of development, embraces one hundred millions of people, 
scattered over a wide and diverse territory, but bound by common 
purpose, common ideals and common affection to the Constitution 
of the United States. 

Under the Constitution and the principles asserted and vitalized 
by it the United States has grown to be one of the great civilized 
and civilizing powers of the earth. It offers a home and an oppor- 
tunity to the ambitious and the industrious from other lands. Rest- 
ing upon the broad basis of a people's confidence and a people's 
support, and managed by the people themselves, the government of 
the United States will meet the problems of the future as satisfac- 
torily as it has solved those of the past. 

The Republican party is now, as always, a party of advanced and 
constructive statesmanship. It is prepared to go forward with the 
solution of those new questions which social, economic and politi- 
cal development have brought into the forefront of the nation's 
interest. It will strive, not only in the nation but in the several 
states, to enact the necessary legislation to safeguard the public 
health ; to limit effectively the labor of women and children ; to 
protect wage earners engaged in dangerous occupations ; to en- 
act comprehensive and generous workman's compensation laws in 
place of the present wasteful and unjust system of employers' lia- 
bility, and in all possible ways to satisfy the just demand of the 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 247 

people for the study and solution of the complex and constantly- 
changing problems of social welfare. 

In dealing with these questions it is important that the rights 
of every individual to the freest possible development of his own 
powers and resources and to the control of his own justly acquired 
property, so far as those are compatible with the rights of others, 
shall not be interfered with or destroyed. The social and political 
structure of the United States rests upon the civil liberty of the 
individual ; and for the protection of the liberty that people have 
wisely, in the national and state constitutions, put definite limita- 
tions upon themselves and upon their governmental officers and 
agencies. To enforce these limitations, to secure the orderly and 
coherent exercise of governmental powers and to protect the rights 
of even the humblest and least favored individual, are the function 
of independent courts of justice. 

The Republican party reaffirms its intention to uphold at all 
times the authority and integrity of the courts, both state and 
federal, and it will ever insist that their powers to enforce their 
process and to protect life, liberty and property shall be preserved 
inviolate. An orderly method is provided under our system of 
government by which the people may, when they choose, alter 
or amend the constitutional provisions which underlie that gov- 
ernment. Until these constitutional provisions are so altered or 
amended, in orderly fashion, it is the duty of the courts to see to 
it that when challenged they are enforced. 

That the courts, both federal and state, may bear the heavy bur- 
den laid upon them to the complete satisfaction of public opinion, 
we favor legislation to prevent long delays and the tedious and 
costly appeals which have so often amounted to a denial of justice 
in civil cases and to a failure to protect the public at large in 
criminal cases. 

Since the responsibility of the judiciary is so great, the standards 
of judicial action must be always and everywhere above suspicion 
and reproach. While we regard the recall of judges as unneces- 
sary and unwise, we favor such action as may be necessary to sim- 
plify the process by which any judge who is found to be derelict 
in his duty may be removed from office. 

Together with peaceful and orderly development at home, the 
Republican party earnestly favors all measures for the establish- 
ment and protection of the peace of the world and for the develop- 
ment of closer relations between the various nations of the earth. 
It believes most earnestly in the peaceful settlement of interna- 
tional disputes and in the reference of all justiciable controversies 
between nations to an international court of justice. 

The Republican party is opposed to special privilege and to mo- 



248 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

nopoly. It placed upon the statute book the interstate commerce 
act of 1887 and the important amendments thereto, and the anti- 
trust act of 1890, and it has consistently and successfully enforced 
the provisions of these laws. It will take no backward step to per- 
mit the re-establishment in any degree of conditions which were 
intolerable. 

Experience makes it plain that the business of the country may 
be carried on without fear or without disturbance and at the same 
time without resort to practices which are abhorrent to the com- 
mon sense of justice. The Republican party favors the enactment 
of legislation supplementary to the existing anti-trust act which . 
will define as criminal offences those specific acts that uniformly 
mark attempts to restrain and to monopolize trade, to the end that 
those who honestly intend to obey the law may have a guide for 
their action and that those who aim to violate the law may the more 
surely be punished. The same certainty should be given to the law 
prohibiting combinations and monopolies that characterize other 
provisions of commercial law ; in other words, that no part of the 
field of business opportunity may be restricted by monopoly or 
combination, that business success honorably achieved may not be 
converted into crime and that the right of every man to acquire 
commodities, and particularly the necessaries of life, in an open 
market, uninfluenced by the manipulation of trust or combination, 
may be preserved. 

In the enforcement and administration of federal laws govern- 
ing interstate commerce and enterprises impressed with a public 
use engaged therein, there is much that may be committed to a 
federal trade commission, thus placing in the hands of an admin- 
istrative board many of the functions now necessarily exercised by 
the courts. This will promote promptness in the administration 
of the law and avoid delays and technicalities incident to court 
procedure. 

We reaffirm our belief in a protective tariff. The Republican 
tariff policy has been of the greatest benefit to the country, devel- 
oping our resources, diversifying our industries and protecting our 
workmen against competition with cheaper labor abroad, thus es- 
tablishing for our wage earners the American standard of living. 
The protective tariff is so woven into the fabric of our industrial 
and agricultural life that to substitute for it a tariff for revenue 
only would destroy many industries and throw millions of our 
people out of employment. The products of the farm and of the 
mine should receive the same measure of protection as other prod- 
ucts of American labor. 

We hold that the import duties should be high enough, while 
yielding a sufficient revenue, to protect adequately American in- 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 249 

dustries and wages. Some of the existing import duties are too 
high and should be reduced. Readjustment should be made from 
time to time to conform to changing conditions and to reduce ex- 
cessive rates, but without injury to any American industry. To 
accomplish this correct information is indispensable. This infor- 
mation can best be obtained by an expert commission, as the large 
volume of useful facts contained in the recent reports of the Tariff 
Board has demonstrated. 

The pronounced feature of modern industrial life is its enor- 
mous diversification. To apply tariff rates justly to these changing 
conditions requires closer study and more scientific methods than 
ever before. The Republican party has shown by its creation of a 
Tariff Board its recognition of this situation and its determina- 
tion to be equal to it. We condemn the Democratic party for its 
failure either to provide funds for the continuance of this board 
or to make some other provision for securing the information 
requisite for intelligent tariff legislation. We protest against the 
Democratic method of legislating on these vitally important sub- 
jects without careful investigation. 

We condemn the Democratic tariff bills passed hy the House of 
Representatives of the Sixty-second Congress as sectional, as injuri- 
ous to the public credit and as destructive of business enterprise. 

The steadily increasing cost of living has become a matter not 
only of national but of worldwide concern. The fact that it is not 
due to the protective tariff system is evidenced by the existence of 
similar conditions in countries which have a tariff policy different 
from our own, as well as by the fact that the cost of living has in- 
creased while rates of duty have remained stationary or been 
reduced. The Republican party will support a prompt scientific 
inquiry into the causes which are operative, both in the United 
States and elsewhere, to increase the cost of living. When the 
exact facts are known it will take the necessary steps to remove 
any abuses that may be found to exist, in order that the cost of 
the food, clothing and shelter of the people may in no way be un- 
duly or artificially increased. \ 

The Republican party has always stood for a sound currency 
and for safe banking methods. It is responsible for the resump- 
tion of specie payments and for the establishment of the gold 
standard. It is committed to the progressive development of our 
banking and currency systems. Our banking arrangements to- 
day need further revision to meet the requirements of current 
conditions. We need measures which will prevent the recurrence 
of money panics and financial disturbances, and which will pro- 
mote the prosperity of business and the welfare of labor by pro- 
ducing constant employment. We need better currency facilities 



250 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

for the movement of crops in the West and South. We need bank- 
ing arrangements under American auspices for the encourage- 
ment and better conduct of our foreign trade. In attaining these 
ends the independence of individual banks, whether organized 
under national or state charters, must be carefully protected, and 
our banking and currency system must be safeguarded from any 
possibility of domination by sectional, financial or political interests. 

It is of great importance to the social and economic welfare of 
this country that its farmers have facilities for borrowing easily 
and cheaply the money they need to increase the productivity of 
their land. It is as important that financial machinery be provided 
to supply the demand of farmers for credit as it is that the bank- 
ing and currency systems be reformed in the interest of general 
business. Therefore we recommend and urge an authoritative in- 
vestigation of agricultural credit societies and corporations in 
other countries and the passage of state and federal laws for the 
establishment and capable supervision of organizations having for 
their purpose the loaning of funds to farmers. 

We reaffirm our adherence to the principle of appointment to 
public office based on proved fitness, and tenure during good be- 
havior and efficiency. The Republican party stands committed to 
the maintenance, extension and enforcement of the civil service 
law, and it favors the passage of legislation empowering the Pres- 
ident to extend the competitive service as far as possible ; the 
equitable retirement of disabled and superannuated members of 
the civil service, in order that a higher order of efficiency may be 
maintained. 

We favor the amendment of the federal employers' liability law 
so as to extend its provisions to all government employes, as well as 
to provide a more liberal scale of compensation for injury and death. 

We favor such additional legislation as may be necessary more 
effectually to prohibit corporations from contributing funds, 
directly or indirectly, to campaigns for the nomination or election 
of the President, the Vice-President, Senators and Representatives 
in Congress. We heartily approve the recent act of Congress re- 
quiring the fullest publicity in regard to all campaign contribu- 
tions, whether made in connection with primaries, conventions or 
elections. 

We rejoice in the success of the distinctive Republican policy 
of the conservation of our natural resources, for their use by the 
people without waste and without monopoly. We pledge our- 
selves to a continuance of such a policy. We favor such fair and 
reasonable rules and regulations as will not discourage or inter- 
fere with actual bona fide home-seekers, prospectors and miners in 
the acquisition of public lands under existing laws. 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 251 

In the interest of the general public, and particularly of the 
agricultural or rural communities, we favor legislation looking to 
the establishment, under proper regulations, of a parcels post, the 
postal rates to be graduated under a zone system in proportion to 
the length of carriage. 

We approve the action taken by the President and the Congress 
to secure with Russia, as with other countries, a treaty that will 
recognize the absolute right of expatriation and that will prevent 
all discrimination of whatever kind between American citizens, 
whether native born or aliens, and regardless of race, religion or 
previous political allegiance. The right of asylum is a precious 
possession of the people of the United States, and it is to be 
neither surrendered nor restricted. 

We believe in the maintenance of an adequate navy for the na- 
tional defence, and we condemn the action of the Democratic 
House of Representatives in refusing to authorize the construction 
of additional ships. 

We believe that one of the country's most urgent needs is a re- 
vived merchant marine. There should be American ships, and 
plenty of them, to make use of the great American interoceanic 
canal now nearing completion. 

The Mississippi River is the nation's drainage ditch. Its flood 
waters, gathered from thirty-one states and the Dominion of Can- 
ada, constitute an overpowering force which breaks the levees and 
pours its torrents over many million acres of the richest land in the 
Union, stopping mails, impeding commerce and causing great loss 
of life and property. These floods are national in scope, and the 
disasters they produce seriously affect the general welfare. The 
states unaided cannot cope with this giant problem ; hence, we 
believe the federal government should assume a fair proportion 
of the burden of its control, so as to prevent the disasters from 
recurring floods. 

We favor the continuance of the policy of the government with 
regard to the reclamation of arid lands ; and for the encourage- 
ment of the speedy settlement and improvement of such lands we 
favor an amendment to the law that will reasonably extend the 
time within which the cost of any reclamation project may be 
repaid by the landowners under it. 

We favor a liberal and systematic policy for the improvement 
of our rivers and harbors. Such improvements should be made 
upon expert information and after a careful comparison of cost 
and prospective benefits. 

We favor a liberal policy toward Alaska to promote the devel- 
opment of the great resources of that district with such safeguards 
as will prevent waste and monopoly. We favor the opening of the 



252 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

coal development through a law leasing the lands on such terms 
as will invite development and provide fuel for the navy and the 
commerce of the Pacific Ocean, while retaining title in the United 
States to prevent monopoly. 

The Philippine policy of the Republican party has been and is 
inspired by the belief that our duty toward the Filipino people is 
a national obligation which should remain entirely free from 
partisan politics. 

We pledge the Republican party to the enactment of appropri- 
ate laws to give relief from the constantly growing evil of induced 
or undesirable immigration, which is inimical to the progress and 
welfare of the people of the United States. 

We favor the speedy enactment of laws to provide that seamen 
shall not be compelled to endure involuntary servitude and that 
life and property at sea shall be safeguarded by the ample equip- 
ment of vessels with lifesaving appliances and with full comple- 
ments of skilled, able-bodied seamen to operate them. 

The approaching completion of the Panama Canal, the estab- 
lishment of a bureau of mines, the institution of postal savings 
banks, the increased provision made in 1912 for the aged and in- 
firm soldiers and sailors of the Republic and for their widows, and 
the vigorous administration of laws relating to pure food and 
drugs, all mark the successful progress of Republican administra- 
tion and are additional evidences of its effectiveness. 

We commend the earnest effort of the Republican administra- 
tion to secure greater economy and increased efficiency in the 
conduct of government business ; extravagant appropriations and 
the creation of unnecessary offices are an injustice to the taxpayer 
and a bad example to the citizen. 

We call upon the people to quicken their interest in public 
affairs, to condemn and punish lynchings and other forms of law- 
lessness and to strengthen in all possible ways a respect for law 
and the observance of it. Indifferent citizenship is an evil from 
which the law affords no adequate protection and for which legis- 
lation can provide no remedy. 

We congratulate the people of Arizona and New Mexico upon 
the admission of those states, thus merging in the Union in final 
and enduring form the last remaining portion of our continental 
territory. 

We ratify in all its particulars the platform of 1908 respecting 
citizenship for the people of Porto Rico. 

We challenge successful criticism of the sixteen years of Repub- 
lican administration under Presidents McKinley, Roosevelt and 
Taft. We heartily reaffirm the indorsement of President McKin- 
ley contained in the platforms of 1900 and 1904, and that of Pres- 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 253 

ident Roosevelt contained in the platforms of 1904 and 1908. We 
invite the intelligent judgment of the American people upon the 
administration of William H. Taft. The country has prospered 
and been at peace under his Presidency. 

During the years in which he had the co-operation of a Repub- 
lican Congress an unexampled amount of constructive legislation 
was framed and passed in the interest of the people and in obe- 
dience to their wish. That legislation is a record on which any ad- 
ministration might appeal with confidence to the favorable judg- 
ment of history. 

We appeal to the American electorate upon the record of the 
Republican party, and upon this declaration of its principles and 
purposes. We are confident that under the leadership of the can- 
didates here to be nominated our appeal will not be in vain ; that 
the Republican party will meet every just expectation of the peo- 
ple, whose servant it is ; that under its administration and its 
laws our nation will continue to advance ; that peace and pros- 
perity will abide with the people, and that new glory will be 
added to the great Republic. 

Two members of the Committee on Resolutions presented a 
substitute for the platform reported, representing the views of 
Senator La Follette. The substitute was rejected and the plat- 
form was adopted by a vote of 666 to 53 ; not voting, 343 ; ab- 
sent, 21. The majority vote was the largest on any division dur- 
ing the whole session of the convention ; it was 108 larger than 
the vote for Root as temporary chairman ; and it will be remem- 
bered that the temporary and permanent rolls were identical. 

Nominating speeches now being in order, the names of 
William H. Taft and Robert M. La Follette were presented in 
the usual way. Mr. Roosevelt's name was not formally pre- 
sented. The roll-call resulted as follows : — 

Whole number of delegates 1 . 1078 

Necessary for a choice 540 

William H. Taft, of Ohio, had 651 

Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, had .... 107 

Robert M. La Follette, of Wisconsin, had .... 41 

Albert B. Cummins, of Iowa, had 17 

Charles E. Hughes, of New York, had 2 

Present and not voting 344 

Absent 6 

1 There are errors in the official report of the vote both for President and 
Vice-President. In both tables the total is given as 1550, whereas the whole 
convention numbered only 1078. The other errors are in addition, the numbers 
bj r States are correct. 



254 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

The name of Vice-President Sherman only was presented 
for the second place on the ticket. The roll-call resulted as 
follows : — 

Whole number of delegates 1078 

Necessary for a choice 540 

James S. Sherman, of New York, had 596 

William E. Borah, of Idaho, had 21 

Charles E. Merriam, of Illinois, had 20 

Herbert S. Hadley, of Missouri, had 14 

Albert S. Beveridge, of Indiana, had 2 

Howard F. Gillette, of Illinois, had 1 

Present and not voting 352 

Absent 72 

Even before the convention adjourned finally, an hour be- 
fore midnight on June 22, the Roosevelt delegates and some 
of the contestants who had been refused seats in the conven- 
tion assembled in a hall near by and offered a nomination to 
Mr. Roosevelt, who accepted it on certain conditions. The chief 
stipulation was that a new party should be formed. Arrange- 
ments were accordingly at once begun for the organization of 
such a party, and for the holding of a convention in Chicago 
in August. 

There was an earnest and interesting contest for the Demo- 
cratic nomination also, but totally different from that in the 
Republican party. Every Democrat was confident of his party's 
success in the coming election. Although those who had op- 
posed Mr. Bryan at former elections had not become more radi- 
cal, nor those who had withheld support from Judge Parker 
more conservative, yet the party was united in the prospect of 
victory over the hopelessly divided enemy. That situation 
invited the condition of a numerous candidacy for the nomina- 
tion. The field was entered by leading statesmen of the party 
and by the usual group of " favorite sons." As will be seen, 
when it came to the roll-calls for nomination a "baker's dozen" 
of persons had votes ; but those between whom the choice ac- 
tually lay, unless a deadlock should require the selection of a 
" dark horse," were only five in number. Naming them in 
alphabetical order they were : — 

William J. Bryan, already three times the candidate of the 
party, On this occasion he declared himself pot a candidate ; 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 255 

but his friends and supporters were many, and there was always 
a possibility that, failing a two-thirds vote for any other, there 
might be a stampede in his favor. 

Champ Clark, Speaker of the House of Representatives and 
favorite son of Missouri, who had a numerous following, chiefly 
in the West and Southwest, with scattering support in other 
regions. 

Judson Harmon, Governor of Ohio, a former member of the 
Cabinet, and understood to be the choice of the most conservative 
element of the party. 

Oscar W. Underwood, of Alabama, Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Ways and Means, — a distinctively southern candi- 
date, but popular throughout the country. 

Woodrow Wilson, Governor of New Jersey, and former Pres- 
ident of Princeton University, whose spectacular campaign in 
New Jersey and subsequent success with the legislature of 
that State have already been noted. 

In addition to these, in the class of favorite sons may be 
mentioned Thomas R. Marshall, Governor of Indiana ; Eugene 
N. Foss, Governor of Massachusetts ; Simeon E. Baldwin, Gov- 
ernor of Connecticut; and four other gentlemen for whom ulti- 
mately scattering votes were given. There were also some 
" booms" held in reserve for emergencies which did not occur. 

The contest for the nomination, as it developed, was not so 
much a matter of personal preference as in the early stages it 
promised to be, but a struggle between radicalism and mild con- 
servatism. Mr. Bryan was the most conspicuous figure in every 
part of the proceedings until the nomination was made, and car- 
ried his points triumphantly in every important matter. The 
few defeats he suffered did not count, as they had no influence 
on the grand result. 

The National Committee, on January 12, issued the call for 
the convention to meet at Baltimore on June 25. The canvass 
in behalf of the several candidates began at once. That of Gov- 
ernor Wilson attracted the most attention, both because he 
himself led it by public speeches on the issues of the day, and 
because of one or two strange incidents which are here merely 
mentioned, — their importance having been quite transitory, — 
a letter by Mr. Wilson, written some years before, in which he 
referred to Mr. Bryan in uncomplimentary terms, and an ad- 
mission by the governor, in a letter to the editor who was his 
first and most prominent champion as a candidate for the presi- 



256 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

dency, that he regarded that editor's advocacy as injurious to 
his prospects. Mr. Bryan's participation in the preliminary 
canvass was limited for the most part to a public declaration 
against both Governor Harmon and Mr. Underwood, as con- 
servative and reactionary. Between Speaker Clark and Gov- 
ernor Wilson he did not express a preference. The National 
Committee, in the call for the convention, permitted but did 
not require the choice of delegates by primary elections. Such 
elections as were held under the permissive clause present 
nothing worthy of notice. In fact the nature of the entire con- 
test within the party is sufficiently brought to light in the 
proceedings of the convention. 

Immediately after the opening prayer by Cardinal Gibbons, 
the National Committee presented to the convention as a can- 
didate for temporary chairman Judge Alton B. Parker, of New 
York. Mr. Bryan at once interposed, and in a speech of some 
length proposed the name of Senator Kern, of Indiana, whom 
he praised, and opposed Judge Parker, whom he denounced as 
backed by Wall Street influence. He asked if such a man 
should be " forced on the convention to open a progressive 
campaign with a paralyzing speech that will dishearten every 
man in it ? " Mr. Kern appealed for harmony, and suggested 
that if Judge Parker would not withdraw his name, Mr. Bryan 
himself was the man upon whom the opponents of the judge 
should unite. Mr. Bryan agreed to be the opposition candidate, 
and after some discussion the convention elected Parker by 
579 votes to 508 for Bryan. In a general way the Parker vote 
was cast by the supporters of Underwood and Harmon ; and a 
large number of Bryan's votes came from those who supported ' 
Wilson on the first vote to effect a nomination. Clark's fol- 
lowers were divided. The speech in which Judge Parker 
opened the proceedings of the convention by no means justified 
Mr. Bryan's premonitory misgivings. The only further busi- 
ness on the first day of the session was the completion of the 
temporary organization and the appointment of committees. 

No business being ready on the morning of Wednesday, the 
26th, the convention listened to general speechmaking for two 
hours, and then took a recess until the evening, when there 
was a four hours' struggle over the report of the Committee 
on Rules, on a question involving the " unit rule." The point 
arose in connection with the Ohio delegation. The situation 
was substantially the reverse of the California case in the Re- 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 25 r , 

publican Convention. The law of Ohio required the election 
of delegates to national conventions by congressional districts. 
Most of the districts were for Governor Harmon, but several 
of them chose men favorable to Clark or Wilson. The State 
convention, controlled strongly by the supporters of Harmon, 
instructed the delegation to vote as a unit. The Committee on 
Rules proposed a rule that all delegations instructed by the 
State convention to vote as a unit should so vote. A minority 
of the committee, consisting of nineteen members, offered a 
modification, providing for the exception where the State law 
required the choice to be made by districts, and did not put 
the district delegates under the authority of the State conven- 
tion. After debate the minority report prevailed by 562^ votes 
against 492^. Those who spoke in favor of the minority report 
avowed their adherence to the time-honored unit rule, in prin- 
ciple, and based their yielding in this case upon their rever- 
ence for the authority of a " sovereign State." 

The report of the Committee on Credentials was taken on 
the third day. There was an interesting but unimportant con- 
test in the delegation from South Dakota. After that was de- 
cided the permanent organization was effected by the choice of 
Ollie M. James, of Kentucky, as president, and E. E. Britton, 
of North Carolina, as secretary. The convention then took a 
recess until evening when Mr. Bryan made a dramatic entry 
into the proceedings by offering the following resolution : — 

Resolved, That in this crisis in our party's career and in our 
country's history this convention sends greeting to the people of 
the United States, and assures them that the party of Jefferson 
and Jackson is still the champion of popular government and 
equality before the law. As proof of our fidelity to the people we 
hereby declare ourselves opposed to the nomination of any candi- 
date for President who is the representative of or under obligation 
to J. Pierpont Morgan, Thomas F. Ryan, August Belmont, or any 
other of the privilege-hunting and favor-seeking class. 

Be it further resolved, That we demand the withdrawal from this 
convention of any delegate or delegates constituting or represent- 
ing the above-named interests. 

The rules of the convention required the reference of all 
resolutions to the Committee on the Platform, but Mr. Bryan 
asked unanimous consent for the immediate consideration of 
his resolution. That being refused, he moved that the rules 
be suspended. An excited debate took place, for both Mr. 



258 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Ryan and Mr. Belmont were members of the convention. Sev- 
eral of the speakers having expressed themselves as willing to 
vote for the first paragraph, but not for the second, Mr. Bryan 
withdrew that paragraph. Ultimately, under the operation of 
the previous question the rules were suspended and the resolu- 
tion was adopted, 883 yeas to 201 \ nays. 

Nominating speeches being now in order, — for the Commit- 
tee on Rules had deliberately provided, and the convention 
had voted, that the nominations should be made before the 
platform was reported, — the names of Messrs. Underwood, 
Clark, Baldwin, Wilson, Marshall, and Harmon were presented 
in that order, an order that was determined solely by the alpha- 
betical position of the States presenting or seconding candidates. 
A single roll-call for a nomination was taken the same night 
— or rather morning; for when the announcement was made 
that there was no choice it was after 7.30 o'clock on Friday 
morning. The convention then adjourned until afternoon of 
the same day, when, and on the following days, until the after- 
noon of Tuesday, the seventh day of the session, forty-five 
more votes were taken. Woodrow Wilson was nominated on 
the forty-sixth trial. The following table gives the votes in 
detail. The convention nominally consisted of 1088 delegates, 
and two-thirds of that number, 726, were necessary for a choice. 
Several States sent to the convention twice as many delegates 
as they were entitled to elect, each with half a vote; and one 
State, Kentucky, sent a triple delegation, giving to each man a 
third of a vote. That is the explanation of the fractions below. 
Fractional votes have usually resulted from contests for seats; 
the convention, being unable or unwilling to decide against 
either party, has admitted both, with half a vote each. 

During the contest for nomination thirteen persons in all 
received votes. They were : Woodrow Wilson, of New Jersey ; 
Champ Clark, of Missouri ; Judson Harmon, of Ohio ; Oscar 
W. Underwood, of Alabama ; Simeon E. Baldwin, of Con- 
necticut; Thomas R. Marshall, of Indiana; Eugene N. Eoss, 
of Massachusetts ; William J. Bryan, of Nebraska ; William 
Sulzer, of New York ; John W. Kern, of Indiana ; William 
J. Gaynor, of New York ; James H. Lewis, of Illinois ; and 
Ollie M. James, of Kentucky. The votes for the six last- 
named are not included in the table, as the number any one of 
them received only once exceeded five. On most of the trials 
Mr. Bryan had one or more votes — usually one ; and Mr. 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 



259 



Kern also was favored with a single vote more than half of 
the time. The votes for the leading and secondary candidates 
were as follows : — 



Ballots 



First 

Second 

Third 

Fourth 

Fifth 

Sixth 

Seventh 

Eighth , 

Ninth 

Tenth 

Eleventh 

Twelfth 

Thirteenth 

Fourteenth 

Fifteenth , 

Sixteenth 

Seventeenth — 

Eighteenth , 

Nineteenth , 

Twentieth 

Twenty-first 

Twenty-second. 
Twenty- third . . , 
Twenty-fourth . , 
Twenty-fifth 
Twenty-sixth.... 
Twenty-s eventh 
Twenty-eighth . . 
Twenty-ninth. .. 

Thirtieth 

Thirty-first 

Thirty-second. . . 

Thirty-third 

Thirty-fourth... 

Thirty-fifth 

Thirty-sixth 
Thirty-seventh. . 
Thirty-eighth... 

Thirty-ninth 

Fortieth 

Forty-first 

Forty-second — 

Forty- third 

Forty-fourth — 

Forty-fifth 

Forty-sixth 







-d 












o 








o 

«2 




o 

H 

-a 


§ 

a 

u f 


1 

3 


2 


t 


c3 

5 


P 


a t 


3 




324 


440! 


117! 


148 3 


i 


22 


339| 


446! 


mj 


141 3 


i 


14 


345 


441 


114! 


140! 3 


i 


14 


349| 


443 


112 


136| 3 


i 


14 


351 


443 


119! 


141! 3 


i 






354 


445 


121 


135 3 


i 


1 , 




352! 


449! 


123! 


129! 3 


i 






351! 


448! 


123 


130 3 


i 






352! 


452 


122! 


127 3 


i 






350! 


556 


117! 


31 3 


i 






354| 


554 


118! 


29 3 









354 


547! 


123 


29 3 









356 


554! 


115! 


29 3 


) 






361 


553 


Ill 


29 3 









362! 


552 


HO! 


29 3 









362! 


551 


112! 


29 3 









362! 


545 


112! 


29 3 









361 


535 


125 


29 3 









358 


532 


130 


29 3 









388! 


512 


121! 


29 3 









395! 


508 


118! 


29 3 









396! 


500! 


115 


3 









399 


497! 


114! 


3 









402! 


496 


H5! 


3 









405 


469 


108 


29 3 









407! 


463! 


112! 


29 3 









406! 


469 


112 


29 3 









437! 


468! 


112! 


29 








436 


468! 


112 


29 








460 


455 


121! 


19 








475! 


446! 


116! 


17 








477! 


446! 


119! 


14 








477! 


447! 


103! 


29 








479! 


447! 


ioi! 


29 








494! 


433! 


101! 


29 








496! 


434| 


98! 


29 








496! 


432! 


100! 


29 








498! 


425 


106" 


29 








501! 


422 


106 


29 








501| 


423 


106 


28 








499! 


424 


106 


27 








494" 


430 


104 


27 








602 


329 


98! 


28 








629 


306 


99" 


27 








633 


306 


97 


25 








990 


84 




12 









The nomination was made unanimous on the motion of 
Senator Stone, of Missouri, Mr. Clark's manager. The result 
was not reached without a sensational incident in which Mr. 
Bryan was again the most conspicuous figure. The ninety 
votes of New York, which were at first given to Harmon, 



260 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

were transferred on the tenth roll-call to Clark. That change 
to the candidate whom Mr. Bryan was himself supporting led 
him to interpose, after the thirteenth trial, to explain his vote. 
The point which he made was that the change of its vote by 
New York was the work of Tammany, or rather of the leader 
of that organization ; that if it were effectual in leading to the 
nomination of Clark it would put the nominee under obliga- 
tion to that leader and to the three men named in his con- 
demnatory resolution ; and that it indicated the opinion of the 
man whom he believed to be in control of the delegation that 
Clark was more conservative and less progressive than Wilson. 
Accordingly he announced that so long as the vote of New 
York was given to Clark, he, who was under instructions to 
support Clark, would withhold his vote from that candidate 
and vote for Wilson. 

On the roll-call that followed his intervention no other 
Nebraska delegate imitated Mr. Bryan's example : and, as will 
be seen from the table, Mr. Clark lost only one half-vote besides 
that of Bryan. But the decline in the Clark vote began at that 
point and continued to the end. On the twenty-seventh roll-call 
a prominent New York member made a vigorous defence of 
the honor of the delegation, and repudiated with indignation 
Mr. Bryan's outspoken accusation that the members were influ- 
enced and controlled by the Tammany leader. On a poll of 
the delegation Clark had 78 votes ; Wilson, 9 ; Underwood, 2 ; 
not voting, 1. But under the unit rule which governed New 
York, its ninety votes were still cast for Clark. 

The Committee on Resolutions interrupted the nominating 
speeches for Vice-President, in the evening, by reporting the 
following platform, which was unanimously adopted without 
discussion : — 

We, the representatives of the Democratic party of the United 
States, in national convention assembled, reaffirm our devotion to 
the principles of Democratic government formulated by Thomas 
Jefferson and enforced by a long and illustrious line of Democratic 
Presidents. 

We declare it to be a fundamental principle of the Democratic 
party that the federal government under the Constitution has no 
right or power to impose or collect tariff duties, except for the 
purpose of revenue, and we demand that the collection of such 
taxes shall be limited to the necessities of government honestly 
and economically administered. 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 261 

The high Republican tariff is the principal cause of the unequal 
distribution of wealth ; it is a system of taxation which makes the 
rich richer and the poor poorer ; under its operations the American 
farmer and laboring man are the chief sufferers ; it raises the cost 
of the necessaries of life to them but does not protect their product 
or wages. The farmer sells largely in free markets and buys almost 
entirely in the protected markets. In the most highly protected 
industries, such as cotton and wool, steel and iron, the wages of 
the laborers are the lowest paid in any of our industries. We de- 
nounce the Republican pretence on that subject and assert that 
American wages are established by competitive conditions and 
not by the tariff. 

We favor the immediate downward revision of the existing high 
and in many cases prohibitive tariff duties, insisting that material 
reductions be speedily made upon the necessaries of life. Articles 
entering into competition with trust controlled products and arti- 
cles of American manufacture which are sold abroad more cheaply 
than at home should be put upon the free list. 

We recognize that our system of tariff taxation is intimately 
connected with the business of the country and we favor the ulti- 
mate attainment of the principles we advocate by legislation that 
will not injure or destroy legitimate industry. 

We denounce the action of President Taft in vetoing the bills to 
reduce the tariff in the cotton, woolen, metals and chemical sched- 
ules and the farmers' free list bill, all of which were designed to 
give immediate relief to the masses from the exactions of the 
trusts. 

The Republican party, while promising tariff revision, has 
shown by its tariff legislation that such revision is not to be in 
the people's interest and, having been faithless to its pledges of 
1908, it should not longer enjoy the confidence of the nation. We 
appeal to the American people to support us in our demand for a 
tariff for revenue only. 

The high cost of living is a serious problem in every American 
home. The Republican party, in its platform, attempts to escape 
from responsibility for present conditions by denying that they 
are due to a protective tariff. We take issue with them on this 
subject and charge that excessive prices result in a large measure 
from the high tariff laws enacted and maintained by the Repub- 
lican party and from trusts and commercial conspiracies fostered 
and encouraged by such laws, and we assert that no substantial 
relief can be secured for the people until import duties on the nec- 
essaries of life are materially reduced and these criminal con- 
spiracies broken up. 

A private monopoly is indefensible and intolerable. We, there- 



262 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

fore, favor the vigorous enforcement of the criminal as well as the 
civil law against trusts and trust officials, and demand the enact- 
ment of such additional legislation as may be necessary to make 
it impossible for a private monopoly to exist in the United States. 

We favor the declaration by law of the conditions upon which 
corporations shall be permitted to engage in interstate trade, in- 
cluding among others, the prevention of holding companies, of in- 
terlocking directors, of stock watering, of discrimination in price, 
and the control by any one corporation of so large a proportion of 
any industry as to make it a menace to competitive conditions. 

We condemn the action of the Republican administration in 
compromising with the Standard Oil Company and the Tobacco 
Trust and its failure to invoke the criminal provisions of the anti- 
trust law against the officers of those corporations after the court 
had declared that from the undisputed facts in the record they had 
violated the criminal provisions of the law. 

We regret that the Sherman anti-trust law has received a judicial 
construction depriving it of much of its efficacy and we favor the 
enactment of legislation which will restore to the statute the 
strength of which it has been deprived by such interpretation. 

We believe in the preservation and maintenance in their full 
strength and integrity of the three coordinate branches of the 
federal government — the executive, the legislative and the judicial 
— each keeping within its own bounds and not encroaching upon 
the just powers of either of the others. 

Believing that the most efficient results under our system of 
government are to be attained by the full exercise by the states of 
their reserved sovereign powers, we denounce as usurpation the 
eiforts of our opponents to deprive the states of any of the rights 
reserved to them, and to enlarge and magnify by indirection the 
powers of the federal government. 

We insist upon the full exercise of all the powers of the govern- 
ment, both state and national, to protect the people from injustice 
at the hands of those who seek to make the government a private 
asset in business. There is no twilight zone between the nation 
and the state in which exploiting interests can take refuge from 
both. It is as necessary that the federal government shall exercise 
the powers reserved to them, but we insist that federal remedies 
for the regulation of interstate commerce and for the prevention 
of private monopoly shall be added to and not substituted for state 
remedies. 

We congratulate the country upon the triumph of two impor- 
tant reforms demanded in the last national platform, namely, the 
amendment of the federal Constitution authorizing an income tax 
and the amendment providing for the popular election of Senators, 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 263 

and we call upon the people of all the states to rally to the sup- 
port of the pending propositions and secure their ratification. 

We note with gratification the unanimous sentiment in favor of 
publicity before the election of campaign contributions — a meas- 
ure demanded in our national platform of 1908, and at that time 
opposed by the Republican party — and we commend the Demo- 
cratic House of Representatives for extending the doctrine of pub- 
licity to recommendations, verbal and written, upon which Presi- 
dential appointments are made, to the ownership and control of 
newspapers and to the expenditures made by and in behalf of 
those who aspire to Presidential nominations, and we point for 
additional justification for this legislation to the enormous expen- 
ditures of money in behalf of the President and his predecessor in 
the recent contest for the Republican nomination for President. 

The movement toward more popular government should be pro- 
moted through legislation in each state which will permit the ex- 
pression of the preference of the electors for national candidates 
at Presidential primaries. 

We direct that the national committee incorporate in the call 
for the next nominating convention a requirement that all ex- 
pressions of preference for Presidential candidates shall be given 
and the selection of delegates and alternates made through a pri- 
mary election conducted by the party organization in each state 
where such expression and election are not provided for by state 
law. Committeemen who are hereafter to constitute the member- 
ship of the Democratic National Committee, and whose election is 
not provided for by law, shall be chosen in each state at such pri- 
mary elections, and the service and authority of committeemen, 
however chosen, shall begin immediately upon the receipt of their 
credentials, respectively. 

We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law pro- 
hibiting any corporation from contributing to a campaign fund 
and any individual from contributing any amount above a reason- 
able maximum. 

We favor a single Presidential term, and to that end urge the 
adoption of an amendment to the Constitution making the Presi- 
dent of the United States ineligible for reelection, and we pledge 
the candidate of this convention to this principle. 

At this time, when the Republican party, after a generation of 
unlimited power in its control of the federal government, is rent 
into factions, it is opportune to point to the record of accomplish- 
ment of the Democratic House of Representatives in the Sixty- 
second Congress. We indorse its action and we challenge com- 
parison of its record with that of any Congress which has been 
controlled by our opponents. 



264 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

We call the attention of the patriotic citizens of our country to 
its record of efficiency, economy and constructive legislation. 

It has, among other achievements, revised the rules of the House 
of Representatives so as to give to the Representatives of the Ameri- 
can people freedom of speech and of action in advocating, pro- 
posing and perfecting remedial legislation. 

It has passed bills for the relief of the people and the develop- 
ment of our country ; it has endeavored to revise the tariff taxes 
downward in the interest of the consuming masses and thus to re- 
duce the high cost of living. 

It has proposed an amendment to the federal Constitution pro- 
viding for the election of United States Senators by the direct vote 
of the people. 

It has secured the admission of Arizona and New Mexico as two 
sovereign states. 

It has required the publicity of campaign expenses, both before 
and after election, and fixed a limit upon the election expenses of 
United States Senators and Representatives. 

It has also passed a bill to prevent the abuse of the writ of in- 
junction. 

It has passed a law establishing an eight-hour day for workmen 
on all national public work. 

It has passed a resolution which forced the President to take 
immediate steps to abrogate the Russian treaty. 

And it has passed the great supply bills which lessen waste and 
extravagance and which reduce the annual expenses of the govern- 
ment by many millions of dollars. 

We approve of the measure reported by the Democratic leaders 
in the House of Representatives for the creation of a council of 
national defence which will determine a definite naval programme 
with a view to increased efficiency and economy. 

The party that proclaimed and has always enforced the Monroe 
Doctrine and was sponsor for the new navy will continue faithfully 
to observe the constitutional requirements to provide and maintain 
an adequate and well proportioned navy, sufficient to defend Ameri- 
can policies, protect our citizens and uphold the honor and dignity 
of the nation. 

We denounce the profligate waste of the money wrung from the 
people by oppressive taxation through the lavish appropriations of 
recent Republican Congresses, which have kept taxes high and 
reduced the purchasing power of the people's toil. We demand a 
return to that simplicity and economy which befits a Democratic 
government and a reduction in the number of useless offices, the 
salaries of which drain the substance of the people. 

We favor the efficient supervision and rate regulation of rail- 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 265 

roads, express companies, telegraph and telephone lines engaged 
in interstate commerce. To this end we recommend the valuation 
of railroads, express companies, telegraph and telephone lines by 
the Interstate Commerce Commission, such valuation to take into 
consideration the physical value of the property, the original cost, 
the cost of reproduction and any element of value that will render 
the valuation fair and just. 

We favor such legislation as will effectually prohibit the rail- 
roads, express, telegraph and telephone companies from engaging 
in business which brings them into competition with their ship- 
pers or patrons ; also legislation preventing the overissue of stocks 
and bonds by interstate railroads, express companies, telegraph 
and telephone lines, and legislation which will assure such reduc- 
tion in transportation rates as conditions will permit, care being 
taken to avoid reduction that would compel a reduction of wages, 
prevent adequate service or do inj ustice to legitimate investments. 

We oppose the so-called Aldrich bill or the establishment of a 
central bank, and we believe the people of the country will be 
largely freed from panics and consequent unemployment and 
business depression by such a systematic revision of our banking 
laws as will render temporary relief in localities where such relief 
is needed, with protection from control or domination by what is 
known as the " money trust." 

Banks exist for the accommodation of the public, and not for the 
control of business. All legislation on the subject of banking and 
currency should have for its purpose the securing of these accom- 
modations on terms of absolute security to the public and of com- 
plete protection from the misuse of the power that wealth gives to 
those who possess it. 

We condemn the present methods of depositing government 
funds in a few favored banks, largely situated in or controlled by 
Wall Street, in return for political favors, and we pledge our party 
to provide by law for their deposit by competitive bidding in the 
banking institutions of the country, national and state, without 
discrimination as to locality, upon approved securities and subject 
to call by the government. 

Of equal importance with the question of currency reform is 
the question of rural credits or agricultural finance. Therefore, 
we recommend that an investigation of agricultural credit societies 
in foreign countries be made, so that it may be ascertained whether 
a system of rural credits may be devised suitable to conditions in 
the United States ; and we also favor legislation permitting na- 
tional banks to loan a reasonable proportion of their funds on real 
estate security. 

We recognize the value of vocational education and urge fed- 



266 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

eral appropriations for such training and extension teaching in 
agriculture in co-operation with the several states. 

We renew the declaration in our last platform relating to the 
conservation of our natural resources and the development of our 
waterways. The present devastation of the Lower Mississippi 
Valley accentuates the movement for the regulation of river flow 
by additional bank and levee protection below, the division, stor- 
age and control of the flood waters above, their utilization for ben- 
eficial purposes in the reclamation of arid and swamp lands and 
the development of water power, instead of permitting the floods 
to continue as heretofore, agents of destruction. 

We hold that the control of the Mississippi River is a national 
problem. The preservation of the depth of its water for the pur- 
pose of navigation, the building of levees to maintain the integ- 
rity of its channel and the prevention of the overflow of the land 
and its consequent devastation, resulting in the interruption of 
interstate commerce, the disorganization of the mail service and 
the enormous loss of life and property impose an obligation which 
alone can be discharged by the general government. 

To maintain an adequate depth of water the entire year and 
thereby encourage water transportation is a consummation worthy 
of legislative attention and presents an issue national in its char- 
acter. It calls for prompt action on the part of Congress, and the 
Democratic party pledges itself to the enactment of legislation 
leading to that end. 

We favor the cooperation of the United States and the respect- 
ive states in plans for the comprehensive treatment of all water- 
ways with a view of coordinating plans for channel improvement, 
vvdth plans for drainage of swamp and overflowed lands, and to 
this end we favor the appropriation by the federal government of 
sufficient funds to make surveys of such lands, to develop plans 
for draining of the same and to supervise the work of construction. 

We favor the adoption of a liberal and comprehensive plan for 
the development and improvement of our inland waterways, with 
economy and efficiency, so as to permit their navigation by vessels 
of standard draft. 

We favor national aid to state and local authorities in the con- 
struction and maintenance of post roads. 

We repeat our declarations of the platform of 1908, as follows : — 

" The courts of justice are the bulwarks of our liberties, and we 
yield to none in our purpose to maintain their dignity. Our party 
has given to the bench a long line of distinguished justices who 
have added to the respect and confidence in which this department 
must be jealously maintained. We resent the attempt of .the Re- 
publican party to raise a false issue respecting the judiciary. It is 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 267 

an unjust reflection upon a great body of our citizens to assume 
that they lack respect for the courts. 

" It is the function of the courts to interpret the laws which the 
people enact, and if the laws appear to work economic, social or 
political injustice it is our duty to change them. The only basis 
upon which the integrity of our courts can stand is that of un- 
swerving justice and protection of life, personal liberty and prop- 
erty. As judicial processes may be abused, we should guard them 
against abuse. 

" Experience has proved the necessity of a modification of the 
present law relating to injunction, and we reiterate the pledges of 
our platforms of 1896 and 1904 in favor of a measure which passed 
the United States Senate in 1886, relating to contempt in federal 
courts and providing for trial by jury in cases of indirect con- 
tempt 

" Questions of judicial practice have arisen, especially in con- 
nection with industrial disputes. We believe that the parties to all 
judicial proceedings should be treated with rigid impartiality, and 
that injunctions should not be issued in any case in which an in- 
junction would not issue if no industrial dispute were involved. 

" The expanding organization of industry makes it essential that 
there should be no abridgment of the right of the wage earners 
and producers to organize for the protection of wages and the im- 
provement of labor conditions, to the end that such labor organ- 
izations and their members should not be regarded as illegal com- 
binations in restraint of trade. 

" We pledge the Democratic party to the enactment of a law 
creating a department of labor represented separately in the Pres- 
ident's Cabinet, in which department shall be included the subject 
of mines and mining." 

We pledge the Democratic party, so far as the federal jurisdic- 
tion extends, to an employe's compensation law providing adequate 
indemnity for injury to body or loss of life. 

We believe in the conservation and the development, for the 
use of all the people, of the natural resources of the country. Our 
forests, our sources of water supply, our arable and our mineral 
lands, our navigable streams, and all the other material resources 
with which our country has been so lavishly endowed, constitute 
the foundation of our national wealth. Such additional legislation 
as may be necessary to prevent their being wasted or absorbed by 
special or privileged interests should be enacted and the policy of 
their conservation should be rigidly adhered to. 

The public domain should be administered and disposed of with 
due regard to the general welfare. Reservations should be limited 
to the purposes which they purport to serve and not extended to 



268 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

include land wholly unsuited therefor. The unnecessary with- 
drawal from sale and settlement of enormous tracts of public 
land, upon which tree growth never existed and cannot be pro- 
moted, tends only to retard development, create discontent and 
bring reproach upon the policy of conservation. 

The public land laws should be administered in a spirit of the 
broadest liberality toward the settler exhibiting a bona fide pur- 
pose to comply therewith, to the end that the invitation of this 
government to the landless should be as attractive as possible, and 
the plain provisions of the forest reserve act permitting homestead 
entries to be made within the national forests should not be nulli- 
fied by administrative regulations which amount to a withdrawal 
of great areas of the same from settlement. 

Immediate action should be taken by Congress to make avail- 
able the vast and valuable coal deposits of Alaska under condi- 
tions that will be a perfect guarantee against their falling into the 
hands of monopolizing corporations, associations or interests. 

We rejoice in the inheritance of mineral resources unequalled 
in extent, variety or value, and in the development of a mining 
industry unequalled in its magnitude and importance. We honor 
the men who, in their hazardous toil underground, daily risk their 
lives in extracting and preparing for our use the products of the 
mine, so essential to the industries, the commerce and the comfort 
of the people of this country. And we pledge ourselves to the ex- 
tension of the work of the Bureau of Mines in every way appro- 
priate for national legislation, with a view to safeguarding the lives 
of the miners, lessening the waste of essential resources and pro- 
moting the economic development of mining, which, along with 
agriculture, must in the future, even more than in the past, serve 
as the very foundation of our national prosperity and welfare and 
our international commerce. 

We believe in encouraging the development of a modern system 
of agriculture and a systematic effort to improve the conditions of 
trade in farm products so as to benefit both the consumers and 
producers. And as an efficient means to this end we favor the en- 
actment by Congress of legislation that will suppress the per- 
nicious practice of gambling in agricultural products by organized 
exchanges or others. 

We believe in fostering, by constitutional regulation of com- 
merce, the grow r th of a merchant marine which shall develop and 
strengthen the commercial ties which bind us to our sister repub- 
lics of the south, but without imposing additional burdens upon 
the people and without bounties or subsidies from the public treas- 
ury. We urge upon Congress the speedy enactment of laws for the 
greater security of life and property at sea ; and we favor the re- 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 269 

peal of all laws and the abrogation of so much of our treaties with 
other nations as provide for the arrest and imprisonment of sea- 
men charged with desertion or with violation of their contract of 
service. 

Such laws and treaties are un-American and violate the spirit, 
if not the letter, of the Constitution of the United States. 

We favor the exemption from tolls of American ships engaged 
in coastwise trade passing through the Panama Canal. 

We also favor legislation forbidding the use of the Panama 
Canal by ships owned or controlled by railroad carriers engaged 
in transportation competitive with the canal. 

We reaffirm our previous declarations advocating the union and 
strengthening of the various governmental agencies relating to 
pure foods, quarantine, vital statistics and human health. Thus 
united and administered without partiality to or discrimination 
against any school of medicine or system of healing, they would 
constitute a single health service, not subordinated to any com- 
mercial or financial interests, but devoted exclusively to the con- 
servation of human life and efficiency. Moreover, this health 
service should cooperate with the health agencies of our various 
states and cities, without interference with their prerogatives or 
with the freedom of individuals to employ such medical or hygienic 
aid as they may see fit. 

The law pertaining to the civil service should be honestly and 
rigidly enforced, to the end that merit and ability should be the 
standard of appointment, and promotion, rather than service ren- 
dered to a political party ; and we favor a reorganization of the 
civil service with adequate compensation commensurate with the 
class of work performed for all officers and employes. We also 
favor the extension to all classes of civil service employes of the 
benefits of the provisions of the employers' liability law. We also 
recognize the right of direct petition to Congress by employes for 
the redress of grievances. 

We recognize the urgent need of reform in the administration 
of civil and criminal law in the United States, and we recommend 
the enactment of such legislation and the promotion of such meas- 
ures as will rid the present legal system of the delays, expense and 
uncertainties incident to the system as now administered. 

We reaffirm the position thrice announced by the Democracy in 
national convention assembled against a policy of imperialism 
and colonial exploitation in the Philippines and elsewhere. We 
condemn the experiment in imperialism as an inexcusable blunder, 
which has involved us in enormous expense, brought us weakness 
instead of strength and laid our nation open to the charge of 
abandonment of the fundamental doctrine of self-government. We 



27a A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

favor an immediate declaration of the nation's purpose to recog- 
nize the independence of the Philippine Islands as soon as a stable 
government can be established, such independence to be guaran- 
teed by us until the neutralization of the islands can be secured 
by treaty with other Powers. In recognizing the independence of 
the Philippines our government should retain such land as may be 
necessary for coaling stations and naval bases. 

We welcome Arizona and New Mexico to the sisterhood of 
states, and heartily congratulate them upon their auspicious be- 
ginnings of great and glorious careers. 

We demand for the people of Alaska the full enjoyment of the 
rights and privileges of a territorial form of government, and we 
believe that the officials appointed to administer the government 
of all our territories and the District of Columbia should be quali- 
fied by previous bonajide residence. 

We commend the patriotism of the Democratic members of the 
Senate and House of Representatives which compelled the termi- 
nation of the Russian treaty of 1832, and we pledge ourselves anew 
to preserve the sacred rights of American citizenship at home and 
abroad. No treaty should receive the sanction of our government 
which does not recognize the equality of all of our citizens, irre- 
spective of race or creed, and which does not expressly guarantee 
the fundamental right of expatriation. 

The constitutional rights of American citizens should protect 
them on our borders and go with them throughout the world, and 
every American citizen residing or having property in any foreign 
country is entitled to and must be given the full protection of the 
United States government, both for himself and his property. 

We favor the establishment of a parcels post or postal express, 
and also the extension of the rural delivery system as rapidly as 
practicable. 

We hereby express our deep interest in the great Panama Canal 
Exposition to be held in San Francisco in 1915, and favor such 
encouragement as can be properly given. 

We commend to the several states the adoption of a law mak- 
ing it an offence for the proprietors of places of public amusement 
and entertainment to discriminate against the uniform of the 
United States similar to the law passed by Congress applicable to 
the District of Columbia and the territories in 1911. 

We renew the declaration of our last platform relating to a 
generous pension policy. 

We call attention to the fact that the Democratic party's de- 
mand for a return to the rule of the people, expressed in the 
national platform four years ago, has now become the accepted 
doctrine of a large majority of the electors. We again remind the 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 



271 



country that only by a larger exercise of the reserved power of the 
people can they protect themselves from the misuse of delegated 
power and the usurpation of governmental instrumentalities by 
special interests. For this reason, the national convention insisted 
on the overthrow of Cannonism and the inauguration of a system 
by which United States Senators could be elected by direct vote. 
The Democratic party offers itself to the country as an agency 
through which the complete overthrow and extirpation of cor- 
ruption, fraud and machine rule in American politics can be 
effected. 

Our platform is one of principles which we believe to be essen- 
tial to our national welfare. Our pledges are made to be kept 
when in office as well as relied upon during the campaign, and we 
invite the cooperation of all citizens, regardless of party, who be- 
lieve in maintaining unimpaired the institutions and traditions of 
our country. 

Two roll-calls for the nomination of a candidate for Vice- 
President resulted in no choice, as follows : — 



Whole number of the convention . 
Two-thirds, necessary to a choice . 
Thomas R. Marshall, of Indiana . 
John Burke, of North Dakota . . 
George E. Chamberlain, of Oregon 
Elmore W. Hurst, of Illinois . . . 
James W. Preston, of Maryland 

M. J. Wade, of Iowa 

William F. McCombs, of New York 
John E. Osborne, of Wyoming . . 
William Sulzer, of New York . . 
Not voting 



1088 
726 



First 


Second 


389 


6441 


304$ 


386^ 


157 


12* 


78 




58 


— 


26 


— 


18 


— 


8 


— 


3 


— 


46£ 


44f 



After the second vote the name of Governor Burke was 
withdrawn, and Governor Marshall, of Indiana, was unani- 
mously nominated by acclamation. 

Before the convention adjourned a resolution was adopted 
which does away in the future with the practice of duplicat- 
ing or triplicating a delegation, with a fraction of a vote for 
each person. The new rule provides for two delegates, with 
one vote each, for each senator or representative in Congress 
to which a State is entitled. The convention was in session 
seven days — seventy-four hours in all. 



272 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

The first party to make nominations for President and Vice- 
President in the canvass of 1912 was the Socialist Labor party, 
which held its convention in Arlington Hall, New York City, 
on April 7 (Sunday) and the following days. The number of 
delegates reported was " about forty," representing eighteen 
States, but only twenty-seven votes were recorded on the 
nominations. The convention was presided over by a different 
chairman each day. The following platform was adopted: — 

The Socialist Labor Party of the United States of America in 
National Convention assembled in New York on April 10th, 1912, 
re-affirming its previous platform pronouncements, and in accord 
with the International Socialist Movement, declares : — 

Social conditions, as illustrated by the events that crowded into 
the last four years, have ripened so fast that each and all the 
principles, hitherto proclaimed by the Socialist Labor Party, and 
all and each of the methods that the Socialist Labor Party has 
hitherto advocated, stand to-day most conspicuously demon- 
strated. 

The Capitalist Social System has wrought its own destruction. 
Its leading exponents, the present incumbent in the presidential 
chair, and his " illustrious predecessor," however seemingly at 
war with each other on principles, cannot conceal the identity of 
their political views. The oligarchy proclaimed by the tenets of 
the one, the monarchy proclaimed by the tenets of the other, 
jointly proclaim the conviction of the foremost men of the Ruling 
Class that the Republic of Capital is at the end of its tether. 

True to the economic laws from which Socialism proceeds, dom- 
inant wealth has to such an extent concentrated into the hands of 
a select few, the Plutocracy, that the lower layers of the Capitalist 
Class feel driven to the ragged edge, while the large majority of 
the people, the Working Class, are being submerged. 

True to the sociologic laws, by the light of which Socialism 
reads its forecasts, the Plutocracy is breaking through its repub- 
lic-democratic shell and is stretching out its hands towards Abso- 
lutism in government ; the property-holding layers below it are 
turning at bay ; the proletariat is awakening to its consciousness 
of class, and thereby to the perception of its historic mission. 

In the midst of this hurly, all the colors of the rainbow are be- 
ing projected upon the social mists from the prevalent confusion 
of thought. 

From the lower layers of the Capitalist Class the bolder, yet 
foolhardy, portion bluntly demands that " the Trust be smashed." 

Even if the Trust could, it should not be smashed ; even if it 
should, it cannot. The law of social progress pushes toward a sys- 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 273 

tern of production that shall crown the efforts of man, without 
arduous toil, with an abundance of the necessaries for material 
existence, to the end of allowing leisure for mental and spiritual 
expansion. The Trust is a mechanical contrivance wherewith to 
solve the problem. To smash the contrivance were to re-introduce 
the days of small-fry competition, and set back the hands of the 
dial of time. The mere thought is foolhardy. He who undertakes 
the feat might as well brace himself against the cascade of Niag- 
ara. The cascade of Social Evolution would whelm him. 

The less bold among the smaller property-holding element pro- 
poses to " curb " the Trust with a variety of schemes. The very 
forces of social evolution that propel the development of the Trust 
stamp the " curbing " schemes, whether political or economic, as 
childish. They are attempts to hold back a runaway horse by the 
tail. The laws by which the attempt has been tried strew the 
path of the runaway. They are splintered to pieces with its kicks, 
and serve only to furnish a livelihood for the Corporation and 
the Anti-Corporation lawyer. 

From still lower layers of the same property-holding class, social 
layers that have sniffed the breath of Socialism and imagine them- 
selves Socialists, comes the iridescent theory of capturing the Trust 
for the people by the ballot only. The " capture of the Trust for 
the people " implies the Social Revolution. To imply the Social 
Revolution with the ballot only, without the means to enforce the 
ballot's fiat, in case of Reaction's attempt to override it, is to fire 
blank cartridges at a foe. It is worse. It is to threaten his exist- 
ence without the means to carry out the threat. Threats of revolu- 
tion, without provisions to carry them out, result in one of two 
things only — either the leaders are bought out, or the revolution- 
ary class, to which the leaders appeal and which they succeed in 
drawing after themselves, are led like cattle to the shambles. The 
Commune disaster of France stands a monumental warning against 
the blunder. 

An equally iridescent hue of the rainbow is projected from a 
still lower layer, a layer that lies almost wholly within the sub- 
merged class — the theory of capturing the Trust for the Working 
Class with the fist only. The capture of the Trust for the people 
implies something else besides revolution. It implies revolution 
carried on by the masses. For reasons parallel to those that decree 
the day of small-fry competition gone by, mass-revolutionary con- 
spiracy is, to-day, an impossibility. The Trust-holding Plutocracy 
may successfully put through a conspiracy of physical force. The 
smallness of its numbers makes a successful conspiracy possible 
on its part. The hugeness of the numbers requisite for a revolu- 
tion against the Trust-holding Plutocracy excludes Conspiracy 



274 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

from the arsenal of the Revolution. The idea of capturing the 
Trust with physical force only is a wild chimera. 

Only two programs — the program of the Plutocracy and the 
programme of the Socialist Labor Party — grasp the situation. 

The Political State, another name for the Class State, is worn 
out in this, the leading capitalist nation of the world, most promi- 
nently. The Industrial or Socialist State is throbbing for birth. 
The Political State, being a Class State, is government separate 
and apart from the productive energies of the people ; it is gov- 
ernment mainly for holding the ruled class in subjection. The 
Industrial or Socialist State, being the denial of the Class State, 
is government that is part and parcel of the productive energies of 
the people. 

As their functions are different, so are the structures of the two 
States different. 

The structure of the Political State contemplates territorial 
" representation " only ; the structure of the Industrial State con- 
templates representation of industries, of useful occupations only. 

The economic or industrial evolution has reached that point 
where the Political State no longer can maintain itself under the 
forms of democracy. While the Plutocracy has relatively shrunk, 
the enemies it has raised against itself have become too numerous 
to be dallied with. What is still worse, obedient to the law of its 
own existence the Political State has been forced not merely to 
multiply enemies against itself ; it has been forced to recruit and 
group the bulk of these enemies, the revolutionary bulk, at that. 

The Working Class of the land, the historically revolutionary 
element, is grouped by the leading occupations, agricultural as 
w T ell as industrial, in such manner that the " autonomous craft 
union" one time the palladium of the workers, has become a 
harmless scarecrow upon which the capitalist birds roost at ease, 
while the Industrial Unions cast ahead of them the constituencies 
of the government of the future, and, jointly, point to the Indus- 
trial State. 

Nor yet is this all. Not only has the Political State raised its 
own enemies ; not only has itself multiplied them ; not only has 
itself recruited and drilled them ; not only has itself grouped 
them into shape and form to succeed it ; it is, furthermore, driven 
by its inherent necessities, prodding on the Revolutionary Class 
by digging ever more fiercely into its flanks the harpoon of 
exploitation. 

With the purchasing power of wages sinking to ever lower 
depths ; with certainty of work hanging on ever slenderer threads ; 
with an ever more gigantically swelling army of the unemployed ; 
with the need of profits pressing the Plutocracy harder and harder 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 275 

recklessly to squander the workers' limbs and life ; what with all 
this and the parallel process of merging the workers of all indus- 
tries into one interdependent solid mass, the final break-up is 
rendered inevitable and at hand. 

No wild schemes and no rainbow-chasing will stead in the 
approaching emergency. The Plutocracy knows this — and so 
does the Socialist Labor Party — and logical is the programme of 
each. 

The programme of the Plutocracy is feudalic Autocracy, trans- 
lated into Capitalism. Where a Social Revolution is pending, and, 
for whatever reason, is not enforced, reaction is the alternative. 

The programme of the Socialist Labor Party is revolution — the 
Industrial or Socialist Republic, the Social Order where the Polit- 
ical State is overthrown ; where the Congress of the land consists 
of the representatives of the useful occupations of the land ; where, 
accordingly, a government is an essential factor in production ; 
where the blessings to a man that the Trust is instinct with are 
freed from the trammels of the private ownership that now turn 
the potential blessings into a curse; where, accordingly, abun- 
dance can be the patrimony of all who work; and the shackles of 
wage slavery are no more. 

In keeping with the goals of the different programmes are the 
means of their execution. 

The means in contemplation by reaction is the bayonet. To 
this end reaction is seeking, by means of the police spy and other 
agencies, to lash the proletariat into acts of violence that may give 
a color to the resort to the bayonet. By its manoeuvres, it is egg- 
ing the Working Class on to deeds of fury. The capitalist press 
echoes the policy, while the pure and simple political Socialist 
Party press, generally, is snared into the trap. 

On the contrary, the means firmly adhered to by the Socialist 
Labor Party is the constitutional method of political action, 
backed by the industrially and class-consciously organized prole- 
tariat, to the exclusion of Anarchy, and all that thereby hangs. 

At such a critical period in the Nation's existence the Socialist 
Labor Party calls upon the Working Class of America, more de- 
liberately serious than ever before, to rally at the polls under the 
Party's banner. And the Party also calls upon all intelligent citi- 
zens to place themselves squarely upon the ground of Working 
Class interests, and join us in this mighty and noble work of hu- 
man emancipation, so that we may put summary end to the exist- 
ing barbarous class conflict by placing the land and all the means 
of production, transportation and distribution into the hands of 
the people as a collective body, and substituting for the present 
state of planless production, industrial war, and social disorder, the 



276 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Social or Industrial Commonwealth — a commonwealth in which 
every worker shall have the free exercise and full benefit of his 
faculties, multiplied by all the modern factors of civilization. 

Arthur E. Reimer, of Massachusetts, was nominated for 
President, receiving 26 votes, to 1 for John M. Francis. The 
official organ of the party reports that the nomination was re- 
ceived with " thunderous applause." For Vice-President, 
August Gilhaus, of New York, had 21 votes to 6 for Mr. 
Francis. 

The convention of the Socialist party was held at Indian- 
apolis, May 12 to 18. As usual it began on Sunday, and was 
conducted on the tmconventional system already described — 
everything discussed, every proposition open to amendment, 
the proceedings as informal as those of a school debating club, 
committees elected by free ballot, a new chairman every day, 
and so on. 

Every State except Tennessee was represented, some of them 
by a single delegate only, other States in varying numbers 
up to 18 for California, 23 for New York, and 24 for Pennsyl- 
vania. The rule of apportionment is that the representation is 
based upon the comparative amount of dues paid by the States 
to the national organization. The whole number of delegates 
was 294, of whom 18, at least, were women, and the women 
took their full share in the debates. A Socialist convention has 
many other functions than the draft of a platform and the 
nomination of candidates — the only functions that now con- 
cern us. It is a general governing body of all the State and local 
Socialist units that make the whole. Rather, it is the body 
that prepares and submits to all the Socialists in the country 
propositions which become effective only when ratified by a ma- 
jority of those voting. Thus, a new constitution that was agreed 
upon at the May convention was submitted to a general refer- 
endum, and approved in August, 1912. 

Twenty-three members were nominated for membership of 
the Committee on the Platform, and the nine who were elected 
had votes varying between 219 and 118. The committee made 
its report on Thursday, the 16th, and the long evening session 
of that day was devoted to a consideration of it, paragraph by 
paragraph. Some significance that does not belong to it might 
be attached to the vote, 117 ayes to 94 nays, to strike out a 
clause urging " the gradual reduction of all tariff duties." The 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 277 

result was not — at any rate not precisely — an indication of 
the tariff views of the delegates. The rejection of the clause was 
advocated on the ground that the tariff is not a Socialist issue 
at all. Several delegates spoke of the controversy between the 
Republicans and the Democrats in the most sarcastic terms. One 
lady delegate spurned " free trade, the open door, protection, 
reciprocity, and all the other fool things the old parties have 
been giving us." She had, she declared, been as poor under 
free trade as she then was under a protective tariff. "For good- 
ness' sake, don't split on the tariff question." 

After full discussion the platform as a whole was adopted, 
as follows : — 

The representatives of the Socialist party in national convention 
at Indianapolis, declare that the capitalist system has outgrown 
its historical function, and has become utterly incapable of meet- 
ing the problems now confronting society. We denounce this out- 
grown system as incompetent and corrupt and the source of 
unspeakable misery and suffering to the whole working class. 

Under this system the industrial equipment of the Nation has 
passed into the absolute control of a plutocracy which exacts an 
annual tribute of millions of dollars from the producers. Unafraid 
of any organized resistance, it stretches out its greedy hands over the 
still undeveloped resources of the Nation — the land, the mines, the 
forests and the water powers of every State in the Union. 

In spite of the multiplication of labor-saving machines and im- 
proved methods in industry which cheapen the cost of production, 
the share of the producers grows ever less, and the prices of all the 
necessities of life steadily increase. The boasted prosperity of this 
Nation is for the owning class alone. To the rest it means only 
greater hardship and misery. The high cost of living is felt in every 
home. Millions of wage-workers have seen the purchasing power 
of their wages decrease until life has become a desperate battle for 
mere existence. 

Multitudes of unemployed walk the streets of our cities or trudge 
from State to State awaiting the will of the masters to move the 
wheels of industry. 

The farmers in every State are plundered by the increasing prices 
exacted for tools and machinery and by extortionate freight rates 
and storage charges. 

Capitalist concentration is mercilessly crushing the class of small 
business men and driving its members into the ranks of prop- 
ertyless wage-workers. The overwhelming majority of the people 
of America are being forced under a yoke of bondage by this soul- 
less industrial despotism. 



278 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

It is this capitalist system that is responsible for the increasing 
burden of armaments, the poverty, slums, child labor, most of the 
insanity, crime and prostitution, and much of the disease that 
afflicts mankind. 

Under this system the working class is exposed to poisonous 
conditions, to frightful and needless perils to life and limb, is walled 
around with court decisions, injunctions and unjust laws, and is 
preyed upon incessantly for the benefit of the controlling oligarchy 
of wealth. Under it also, the children of the working class are 
doomed to ignorance, drudging toil and darkened lives. 

In the face of these evils, so manifest that all thoughtful observers 
are appalled at them, the legislative representatives of the Repub- 
lican and Democratic parties remain the faithful servants of the 
oppressors. Measures designed to secure to the wage-earners of this 
Nation as humane and just treatment as is already enjoyed by the 
wage-earners of all other civilized nations have been smothered in 
committee without debate, and laws ostensibly designed to bring 
relief to the farmers and general consumers are juggled and trans- 
formed into instruments for the exaction of further tribute. The 
growing unrest under oppression has driven these two old parties 
to the enactment of a variety of regulative measures, none of which 
has limited in any appreciable degree the power of the plutocracy, 
and some of which have been perverted into means for increasing 
that power. Anti-trust laws, railroad restrictions and regulations, 
with the prosecutions, indictments and investigations based upon 
such legislation, have proved to be utterly futile and ridiculous. 

Nor has this plutocracy been seriously restrained or even threat- 
ened by any Republican or Democratic executive. It has continued 
to grow in power and insolence alike under the administrations of 
Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft. 

In addition to this legislative juggling and this executive conni- 
vance, the courts of America have sanctioned and strengthened the 
hold of this plutocracy as the Dred Scott and other decisions 
strengthened the slave power before the civil war. 

We declare, therefore, that the longer sufferance of these condi- 
tions is impossible, and we purpose to end them all. We de- 
clare them to be the product of the present system in which 
industry is carried on for private greed, instead of for the welfare 
of society. We declare, furthermore, that for these evils there 
will be and can be no remedy and no substantial relief except 
through socialism, under which industry will be carried on for the 
common good and every worker receive the full social value of the 
wealth he creates. 

Society is divided into warring groups and classes, based upon 
material interests. Fundamentally, this struggle is a conflict be- 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 279 

tween the two main classes, one of which, the capitalist class, owns 
the means of production, and the other, the working class, must 
.use these means of production on terms dictated by the owners. 

The capitalist class, though few in numbers, absolutely controls 
the Government — legislative, executive and judicial. This class 
owns the machinery of gathering and disseminating news through 
its organized press. It subsidizes seats of learning — the colleges 
and schools — and even religious and moral agencies. It has also 
the added prestige which established customs give to any order of 
society, right or wrong. 

The working class, which includes all those who are forced to 
work for a living, whether by hand or brain, in shop, mine or on 
the soil, vastly outnumbers the capitalist class. Lacking effective 
organization and class solidarity, this class is unable to enforce its 
will. Given such class solidarity and effective organization, the 
workers will have the power to make all laws and control all in- 
dustry in their own interest. 

All political parties are the expression of economic class inter- 
ests. All other parties than the Socialist party represent one or an- 
other group of the ruling capitalist class. Their political conflicts 
reflect merely superficial rivalries between competing capitalist 
groups. However they result, these conflicts have no issue of real 
value to the workers. Whether the Democrats or Republicans win 
politically, it is the capitalist class that is victorious economically. 

The Socialist party is the political expression of the economic 
interests of the workers. Its defeats have been their defeats and 
its victories their victories. It is a party founded on the science 
and laws of social development. It proposes that, since all social 
necessities to-day are socially produced, the means of their pro- 
duction and distribution shall be socially owned and democrati- 
cally controlled. 

In the face of the economic and political aggressions of the cap- 
italist class the only reliance left the workers is that of their eco- 
nomic organizations and their political power. By the intelligent 
and class-conscious use of these, they may resist successfully the 
capitalist class, break the fetters of wage slavery, and fit them- 
selves for the future society, which is to displace the capitalist 
system. The Socialist party appreciates the full significance of 
class organization and urges the wage-earners, the working farmers 
and all other useful workers to organize for economic and politi- 
cal action, and we pledge ourselves to support the toilers of the 
fields as well as those in the shops, factories and mines of the 
Nation in their struggles for economic justice. 

In the defeat or victory of the working class party in this new 
struggle for freedom lies the defeat or triumph of the common 



280 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

people of all economic groups, as well as the failure or the triumph 
of popular government. Thus the Socialist party is the party of the 
present-day revolution, which marks the transition from economic 
individualism to socialism, from wage slavery to free cooperation, 
from capitalist oligarchy to industrial democracy. 

As measures calculated to strengthen the working class in its 
fight for the realization of its ultimate aim, the Cooperative 
Commonwealth, and to increase its power of resistance against 
capitalist oppression, we advocate and pledge ourselves and our 
elected officers to the following programme : — 

First : The collective ownership and democratic management of 
railroads, wire and wireless telegraphs and telephones, express 
service, steamboat lines and all other social means of transporta- 
tion and communication and of all large-scale industries. 

Second : The immediate acquirement by the municipalities, the 
States or the Federal Government, of all grain elevators, stock 
yards, storage warehouses, and other distributing agencies, in 
order to reduce the present extortionate cost of living. 

Third : The extension of the public domain to include mines, 
quarries, oil wells, forests and water power. 

Fourth : The further conservation and development of natural 
resources for the use and benefit of all the people : — 

(a) By scientific forestation and timber protection. 

(&) By the reclamation of arid and swamp tracts. 

(c) By the storage of flood waters and the utilization of water 
power. 

(d) By the stoppage of the present extravagant waste of the 
soil and of the products of mines and oil wells. 

(e) By the development of highway and waterway systems. 
Fifth : The collective ownership of land wherever practicable, 

and in cases where such ownership is impracticable, the appropri- 
ation by taxation of the annual rental value of all land held for 
speculation or exploitation. 

Sixth: The collective ownership and democratic management 
of the banking and currency system. 

The immediate Government relief of the unemployed by the ex- 
tension of all useful public works. All persons employed on such 
works to be engaged directly by the Government under a work 
day of not more than eight hours and at not less than the prevail- 
ing union wages. The Government also to establish employment 
bureaus ; to lend money to States and municipalities, without in- 
terest, for the purpose of carrying on public works, and to take 
such other measures within its power as will lessen the widespread 
misery of the workers caused by the misrule of the capitalist 
class. 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 281 



INDUSTRIAL DEMANDS 

The conservation of human resources, particularly of the lives 
and well-being of the workers and their families : — 

First : By shortening the work day in keeping with the in- 
creased productiveness of machinery. 

Second : By securing to every worker a rest period of not less 
than a day and a half in each week. 

Third : By securing a more effective inspection of workshops, 
factories and mines. 

Fourth : By forbidding the employment of children under six- 
teen years of age. 

Fifth : By abolishing the brutal exploitation of convicts under 
the contract system and prohibiting the sale of goods so produced 
in competition with other labor. 

Sixth : By forbidding the interstate transportation of the prod- 
ucts of child labor, of convict labor and of all uninspected factories 
and mines. 

Seventh : By abolishing the profit system in Government work, 
and substituting either the direct hire of labor or the awarding of 
contracts to cooperative groups of workers. 

Eighth : By establishing minimum wage scales. 

Ninth : By abolishing official charity and substituting a non- 
contributory system of old-age pensions, a general system of in- 
surance by the State of all its members against unemployment 
and invalidism and a system of compulsory insurance by employ- 
ers of their workers, without cost to the latter, against industrial 
diseases, accidents and death. 

POLITICAL DEMANDS 

First : The absolute freedom of press, speech and assemblage. 

Second : The adoption of a graduated income tax, the increase 
of the rates of the present corporation tax and the extension of 
inheritance taxes, graduated in proportion to the value of the 
estate and to nearness of kin — the proceeds of these taxes to be 
employed in the socialization of industry. 

Third : The gradual reduction of all tariff duties, particularly 
those on the necessities of life. The government to guarantee the 
reemployment of wage^earners who may be disemployed by reason 
of changes in tariff schedules. 

Fourth : The abolition of the monopoly ownership of patents 
and the substitution of collective ownership, with direct rewards 
to inventors by premiums or royalties. 

Fifth : Unrestricted and equal suffrage for men and women. 



282 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Sixth : The adoption of the initiative, referendum and recall 
and of proportional representation, nationally as well as locally. 

Seventh : The abolition of the Senate and of the veto power of 
the President. 

Eighth: The election of the President and Vice-President by 
direct vote of the people. 

Ninth: The abolition of the power usurped by the Supreme 
Court of the United States to pass upon the constitutionality of 
the legislation enacted by Congress. National laws to be repealed 
only by act of Congress or by a referendum vote of the whole 
people. 

Tenth : The abolition of the present restrictions upon the 
amendment of the Constitution, so that that instrument may be 
made amendable by a majority of the voters in a majority of the 
States. 

Eleventh : The granting of the right of suffrage in the District 
of Columbia with representation in Congress and a democratic 
form of municipal government for purely local affairs. 

Twelfth : The extension of Democratic government to all United 
States territory. 

Thirteenth: The enactment of further measures for general 
education and particularly for vocational education in useful pur- 
suits. The Bureau of Education to be made a department. 

Fourteenth : The enactment of further measures for the con- 
servation of health. The creation of an independent Bureau of 
Health, with such restrictions as will secure full liberty to all 
schools of practice. 

Fifteenth : The separation of the present Bureau of Labor from 
the Department of Commerce and Labor and its elevation to the 
rank of a department. 

Sixteenth : Abolition of all Federal District Courts and the 
United States Circuit Courts of Appeals. State courts to have 
jurisdiction in all cases arising between citizens of the several 
States and foreign corporations. The election of all judges for 
short terms. 

Seventeenth : The immediate curbing of the power of the courts 
to issue injunctions. 

Eighteenth : The free administration of justice. 

Nineteenth : The calling of a convention for the revision of the 
Constitution of the United States. 

Such measures of relief as we may be able to force from capi- 
talism are but a preparation of the workers to seize the whole 
powers of government, in order that they may thereby lay hold of 
the whole system of socialized industry and thus come to their 
rightful inheritance. 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 283 

Although the foregoing platform covers a wide range of 
subjects, it does not comprise all the political creed of the 
Socialist party. For besides the Platform Committee there 
was also a Committee on Resolutions, which made more than 
a dozen reports, each on a single topic, supplementing or am- 
plifying the points mentioned in the platform. The resolu- 
tions were discussed and adopted, and should really form a 
part of the platform ; but they are too voluminous to be here 
reproduced. Among the positions taken by the party in those 
resolutions were : opposition to the restriction of immigration 
by excluding avowed anarchists ; condemnation of the prosecu- 
tion of the I.W.W. leaders for inciting strikers to violence ; 
approval of a Socialist propaganda in the enlisted forces of 
the army and navy ; recommending temperance, but opposing 
prohibition; and condemning " white slavery" as a " by-prod- 
uct of capitalism." 

The convention adopted a rule forbidding nominating 
speeches for a candidate for President, because, as one dele- 
gate put it, " nominating speeches are in most instances of 
such a character as to turn the convention from a deliberative 
body into a howling mob," — a fact which members of other 
parties have perceived without its leading to the obvious rem- 
edy. On Friday afternoon, the 17th, the convention voted, 
without preliminaries, for a candidate for President, with the 
following result : — 

Whole number of votes 275 

Necessary to a choice 138 

Eugene V. Debs, of Illinois 165 

Emil Seidel, of Wisconsin 56 

Charles Edward Russell, of New York 54 

Mr. Seidel moved, and Mr. Russell seconded the motion, to 
make the nomination unanimous, which was carried. 

The vote for a candidate for Vice-President resulted : — 

Whole number of votes 256 

Necessary to a choice 129 

Emil Seidel, of Wisconsin 159 

Dan Hogan, of Arkansas 73 

John W. Slayton, of Pennsylvania 24 

Mr. Seidel's nomination was made unanimous, on motion of 
Mr. Hogan, seconded by Mr. Slayton. 



284 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

The convention of the Prohibition party was held at Atlantic 
City, New Jersey, July 10-12, in a hall at the end of a long 
pier jutting into the ocean. Some of the delegates felicitated 
themselves on the appropriateness of meeting in a place wholly 
surrounded by water. It was reported that all the States were 
represented " by a thousand or more delegates," but the facts 
were not more definitely stated. Indeed, the proceedings of 
the convention were so meagrely reported in the daily news- 
papers that details are not easily accessible. Clinton N. Howard, 
of New York, was the temporary chairman, and Dr. Charles 
H. Mead, of New Jersey, was the permanent president of the 
convention. There were two quite active contests in the course 
of the proceedings. An " insurgent " movement was successful, 
by an amendment of the rules, in giving to the convention the 
right by a free ballot to make choice of the chairman of the 
national committee ; and complaint that the prohibition plank 
of the platform as reported by the Committee on Resolutions 
was inadequate, led to the addition of the concluding clause of 
the first paragraph of the platform, which, as agreed upon, was 
as follows: — 

The Prohibition Party of the United States of America, in con- 
vention at Atlantic City, New Jersey, July 11, 1912, recognizing 
God as the source of all governmental authority, makes the follow- 
ing declaration of principles : — 

The alcoholic drink traffic is wrong, the most serious drain upon 
the Nation's wealth and resources, detrimental to the general wel- 
fare, destructive of the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the 
pursuit of happiness, and therefore, all laws taxing or licensing a 
traffic that produces crime, poverty, and political corruption, and 
spreads disease and death, should be repealed. To destroy such 
traffic there must be elected to power a political party which will 
administer the Government from the standpoint that the alcoholic 
drink traffic is a crime and not a business, and we pledge that the 
manufacture, importation, exportation, transportation, and sale 
of alcoholic beverages shall be prohibited. 

We favor the election of United States Senators by direct vote 
of the people. 
-^ Presidential terms of six years and one term only. 

Uniform marriage and divorce laws. 

The extermination of polygamy and the complete suppression 
of the traffic in girls. 

Suffrage for women upon the same terms as to men. 

Court review as to post-office decisions. 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 285 

The absolute protection of the rights of labor without impair- 
ment of the rights of capital. 

The settlement of all international disputes by arbitration. 

The initiative and referendum. 

The tariff is a commercial question and should be fixed on the 
basis of accurate knowledge secured by a permanent omnipartisan 
tariff commission with ample powers. 

An elastic currency system adequate to our industrial needs. 

The complete and permanent separation of Church and State. 

We oppose the appropriation of public funds for any sectarian 
purposes. 

The abolition of child labor in the mines, workshops, and fac- 
tories, with rigid enforcement of laws now flagrantly violated. 

Equitable graduated income and inheritance taxes. 

Conservation of our mineral and forest reserves, reclamation of 
arid and waste lands, and we urge that all mineral and timber 
lands and water-power now owned by the Government be held per- 
petually and leased for revenue purposes. 

Clearly defined laws for the regulation and control of corpora- 
tions transacting an interstate business. 

Greater efficiency and economy in government service. 

To these fundamental principles the National Prohibition Party 
renews its long allegiance and on these issues invites the coopera- 
tion of all citizens, to the end that the true objects of popular gov- 
ernment may be attained ; i. e., equal and exact justice to all. 

Five candidates were proposed for President : Eugene W. 
Chafin, of Arizona ; E. W. Emerson, of California ; Finley C. 
Hendrickson, of Maryland ; Aaron S. Watkins, of Ohio ; and 
Andrew Jackson Houston, of Texas. After one vote all the 
candidates except Mr. Chafin were withdrawn, and he was 
nominated by acclamation. The leading candidates for Vice- 
President were Aaron S. Watkins, of Ohio; F. W. Emerson, of 
California ; and George E. Stockwell, of New York. Again one 
vote was taken, and then Mr. Watkins was nominated by 
acclamation. The ticket was therefore the same as in 1904 and 
1908. 

It has already been recorded that immediately after the 
close of the Republican Convention the supporters of 
Mr. Roosevelt met in Orchestra Hall and laid preliminary 
plans for the formation of a new party to be led by him. Gov- 
ernor Johnson, of California, presided. Senator Clapp, of 
Minnesota, declared that those present " represented a clear 



286 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

majority of the voters of the Republican party in the United 
States, and a clear majority of the delegates and alternates 
legally elected to the convention." The meeting tendered a nom- 
ination as President to Mr. Roosevelt, and he accepted it. The 
chairman of the meeting was empowered to name a committee 
to form plans for a temporary organization and for the holding 
of a delegate convention. A call for such a convention, to meet 
at Chicago on August 5, was issued on July 8, addressed " to the 
people of the United States, without regard to past political 
differences, who, through repeated betrayals, realize that to-day 
the power of the crooked political bosses and of the privileged 
classes behind them is so strong in the two old party organiza- 
tions that no helpful movement in the real interest of our 
country can come out of either." 

In the organization of a new party the preliminaries are neces- 
sarily informal, and must be undertaken by men who have no 
previous authority. It was so on this occasion. There was neither 
an enrolment of members nor any of the ordinary party machin- 
ery for the choice of delegates. But all difficulties arising from 
the lack of such preparatory aids were surmounted in one way 
or another, and a convention undoubtedly representative of the 
movement was duly assembled. It is not feasible to give so 
detailed a report of the proceedings as is possible in giving those 
of the Republican and Democratic conventions. So far as a 
somewhat careful search reveals, no newspaper in the country 
gave a connected, or even an intelligible, account of the pro- 
ceedings, although the newspapers did print many pages of 
picturesque statements about it. Inasmuch as no official report 
was published, some facts regarding the convention are not 
available. It is probable, nevertheless, that all the States were 
represented, though even that cannot be stated positively ; and 
of course, since there was no roll-call and no division on any 
question, the total number of delegates cannot be stated. 
Among the delegates were many women. 

Previous to the meeting of the convention Mr. Roosevelt 
made known his wishes on a certain point regarding the rep- 
resentation of the extreme southern States. He urged that the 
choice of colored men as delegates, which should be encour- 
aged in the northern States, should be discouraged in the 
South. He gave several reasons for his opinion, based on the 
conditions in that part of the country, and the scandals that 
had accompanied the manipulation of caucuses and cqpven- 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 287 

tions by the Republican organizations in recent years. His 
declaration practically called for delegations exclusively of 
white men from all the States where the laws or the attitude 
of those in control of the governments prevented the free exer- 
cise of the right of suffrage by the negroes. Undoubtedly Mr. 
Roosevelt had also in his mind, as a consequence of what is 
known as a "lily white " policy, that although the Progres- 
sives would probably lose some votes of colored men, they 
would gain many from the Democratic party ; and it was a 
hope and expectation that the movement would tend to create 
a breach in the "solid South. " Indeed, there were some dele- 
gates, former Democrats, in the convention from southern 
States, who brought assurances that Mr. Roosevelt would 
make great inroads upon the Democratic vote in that region, 
with good prospect of carrying some of the States. There was 
a certain amount of opposition to the proposition. It was 
feared, by some delegates from northern States where the 
Negro vote was an important element, that the discrimination 
against the race would cause a loss of strength where such a 
loss might make the difference between success and failure. 
But on this matter, as on every other, of principle, policy, or 
action, the will of the leader was decisive. The National Com- 
mittee decided to exclude certain colored delegates from south- 
ern States, and the convention confirmed its acts. It will be 
seen, on an examination of the popular vote in November, 
that so far from the Progressive movement making a breach 
in the solid South, the combined vote for Roosevelt and Taft 
in those States was less than the Taft vote in 1908. 

In many respects the convention was unique. It would be easy 
and true to describe it as a Roosevelt convention, but it was 
much more than that. There could be no mistaking the fervor 
and enthusiasm of the delegates for the principles of Mr. 
Roosevelt and for the political and social crusade to which he 
was leading them. They firmly believed that they were entering 
upon a movement for the regeneration and emancipation of the 
American people, and the renovation and purification of Amer- 
ican life. They were continually breaking forth into song — 
religious and patriotic song — " Onward Christian Soldiers," 
the " Battle Hymn of the Republic " ; "America " ; and most 
appropriately they closed the sessions of the convention by 
singing the Doxology — " Praise God from whom all bless- 
ings flow." Psychologically their attitude might be likened to 



288 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

the militant spirituality of a Salvation Army host, and the 
likeness is emphasized by the concluding sentence of Mr. 
Roosevelt's " confession of faith," "We stand at Armaged- 
don, and we battle for the Lord." 

The convention was called to order by Senator Dixon, of 
Montana, who read the call and made a brief address. Albert 
J. Beveridge, of Indiana, was the temporary chairman, and 
spoke at great length. He continued to act as presiding officer 
during all the sessions of the convention. On the second day 
Mr. Roosevelt was received with extraordinary enthusiasm, 
and made his " confession of faith." On the third day the 
platform, which had previously been submitted to Mr. Roose- 
velt, and approved by him, was reported and unanimously 
adopted, as follows : — 

The conscience of the people in a time of grave national prob- 
lems has called into being a new party, born of the nation's 
awakened sense of justice. 

We of the Progressive Party here dedicate ourselves to the ful- 
filment of the duty laid upon us by our fathers to maintain that 
government of the people, by the people, and for the people, whose 
foundations they laid. 

We hold, with Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, that 
the people are the masters of their Constitution, to fulfill its pur- 
poses and to safeguard it from those who, by perversion of its 
intent, would convert it into an instrument of injustice. In ac- 
cordance with the needs of each generation the people must use 
their sovereign powers to establish and maintain equal opportunity 
and industrial justice, to secure which this government was founded 
and without which no republic can endure. 

This country belongs to the people who inhabit it. Its resources, 
its business, its institutions, and its laws should be utilized, main- 
tained, or altered in whatever manner will best promote the gen- 
eral interest. It is time to set the public welfare in the first place. 

Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to 
execute the will of the people. From these great tasks both the old 
parties have turned aside. Instead of instruments to promote the 
general welfare, they have become the tools of corrupt interests 
which use them impartially to serve their selfish purposes. Behind 
the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government 
owning no allegiance and alleging no responsibility to the people. 
To destroy this invisible government, to dissolve the unholy alli- 
ance between corrupt business and corrupt politics, is the first task 
of the statesmanship of the day. 

The deliberate betrayal of its trust by the Republican Party, the 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 289 

fatal incapacity of the Democratic Party to deal with the new 
issues of the new time, have compelled the people to forge a new 
instrument of government through which to give effect to their 
will in laws and institutions. Unhampered by tradition, uncor- 
rupted by power, undismayed by the magnitude of the task, the 
new party offers itself as the instrument of the people to sweep 
away old abuses, to build a new and nobler commonwealth. 

This declaration is our covenant with the people, and we hereby 
bind the party and its candidates in state and nation to the pledges 
made herein. 

The Progressive Party, committed to the principle of government 
by a self-controlled democracy expressing its will through repre- 
sentatives of the people, pledges itself to secure such alterations 
in the fundamental law of the several states and of the United 
States as shall insure the representative character of the govern- 
ment. In particular, the party declares for direct-primaries for the 
nomination of state and national officers, for nation-wide prefer- 
ential primaries for candidates for the Presidency, for the direct 
election of United States Senators by the people ; and we urge on 
the states the policy of the short ballot with responsibility to the 
people secured by the initiative, referendum, and recall. 

The Progressive Party, believing that a free people should have 
the power from time to time to amend their fundamental law so 
as to adopt it progressively to the changing needs of the people, 
pledges itself to provide a more easy and expeditious method of 
amending the Federal Constitution. 

Up to the limit of the Constitution and later by amendment of 
the Constitution, if it was found necessary, we advocate bringing 
under effective national jurisdiction those problems which have 
expanded beyond reach of the individual states. 

It is as grotesque as it is intolerable that the several states 
should by unequal laws in matter of common concern become 
competing commercial agencies, barter the lives of their children, 
the health of their women, and the safety and well-being of their 
working people for the profit of their financial interests. 

The extreme insistence on state's rights by the Democratic 
Party in the Baltimore platform demonstrates anew its inability 
to understand the world into which it has survived or to admin- 
ister the affairs of a union of states which have in all essential 
respects become one people. 

The Progressive Party, believing that no people can justly claim 
to be a true democracy which denies political right on account of 
sex, pledges itself to the task of securing equal suffrage to men 
and women alike. 

We pledge our party to legislation that will compel strict lim- 



290 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

itation of all campaign contributions and expenditures and detailed 
publicity of both, before as well as after primaries and elections. 

We pledge our party to legislation compelling the registration 
of lobbyists ; publicity of committee hearings, except on foreign 
affairs, and recording of all votes in committee, and forbidding- 
federal appointees from holding office in state or national political 
organizations or taking part as officers or delegates in political con- 
ventions for the nomination of elective state or national officials. 

The Progressive Party demands such restriction of the power 
of the courts as shall leave to the people the ultimate authority 
to determine fundamental questions of social welfare and public 
policy. To secure this end, it pledges itself to provide : — 

(1) That when an act passed under the police power of the 
state is held unconstitutional under the state constitution by the 
courts, the people, after an ample interval for deliberation, shall 
have an opportunity to vote on the question whether they desire 
the act to become law, notwithstanding such decision. 

(2) That every decision of the highest appellate court of a state 
declaring an act of the legislature unconstitutional on the ground 
of its violation of the Federal Constitution shall be subject to the 
same review by the Supreme Court of the United States as is now 
accorded to decisions sustaining such legislation. 

The Progressive Party, in order to secure to the people a better 
administration of justice and by that means to bring about a more 
general respect for the law and the courts, pledges itself to work 
unceasingly for the reform of legal procedure and judicial methods. 

We believe that the issuance of injunctions in cases arising out 
of labor disputes should be prohibited when such injunctions 
would not apply when no labor disputes existed. 

We also believe that a person cited for contempt in labor dis- 
putes, except when such contempt was committed in the actual 
presence of the court or so near thereto as to interfere with the 
proper administration of justice, should have a right to trial by 

jury- 

The supreme duty of the nation is the conservation of human 
resources through an enlightened measure of social and industrial 
justice. We pledge ourselves to work unceasingly in state and 
nation for — 

Effective legislation looking to the prevention of industrial acci- 
dents, occupational diseases, overwork, involuntary unemploy- 
ment, and other injurious effects incident to modern industry ; 

The fixing of minimum safety and health standards for the 
various occupations, and the exercise of the public authority of 
state and nation, including the federal control over interstate com- 
merce and the taxing power, to maintain such standards ; 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 291 

The prohibition of child labor ; minimum wage standards for 
working women ; to provide a " living wage " in all industrial 
occupations ; 

The general prohibition of night work for women, and the estab* 
lishment of an eight-hour day for women and young persons ; 

One day's rest in seven for all wage-workers ; 

The eight-hour day in continuous twenty-four hour industries ; 

The abolition of the convict contract labor system ; substituting 
a system of prison production for governmental consumption only ; 
and the application of prisoners' earnings to the support of their 
dependent families ; 

Publicity as to wages, hours, and conditions of labor; full re- 
ports upon industrial accidents and diseases, and the opening to 
public inspection of all tallies, weights, measures, and check sys- 
tems on labor products. 

We pledge our party to establish a Department of Labor with a 
seat in the Cabinet, and with wide jurisdiction over matters affect- 
ing the conditions of labor and living. 

The development and prosperity of country life are as important 
to the people who live in the cities as they are to the farmers. 
Increase of prosperity on the farm will favorably affect the cost of 
living and promote the interests of all who dwell in the country, 
and all who depend upon its products for clothing, shelter, and 
food. 

We pledge our party to foster the development of agricultural 
credit and cooperation, the teaching of agriculture in schools, the 
agricultural college extension, the use of mechanical power on the 
farm, and to reestablish the Country Life Commission, thus directly 
promoting the welfare of the farmers and bringing the benefits 
of better farming, better business, and better living within their 
reach. 

The high cost of living is due partly to world-wide and partly 
to local causes ; partly to natural and partly to artificial causes. 
The measures proposed in this platform on various subjects, such 
as the tariff, the trusts, and conservation, will of themselves remove 
the artificial causes. There will remain other elements, such as 
the tendency to leave the country for the city, waste, extravagance, 
bad system of taxation, poor methods of raising crops, and bad 
business methods in marketing crops. 

To remedy these conditions requires the fullest information and, 
based on this information, effective government supervision and 
control to remove all the artificial causes. We pledge ourselves to 
such full and immediate inquiry and to immediate action to deal 
with every need such inquiry discloses. 

We favor the union of all the existing agencies of the Federal 



292 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Government dealing with the public health into a single national 
health service without discrimination against or for any one set 
of therapeutic methods, school of medicine, or school of healing, 
with such additional powers as may be necessary to enable it to 
perform efficiently such duties in the protection of the public from 
preventable disease as may be properly undertaken by the federal 
authorities ; including the executing of existing laws regarding 
pure food ; quarantine and cognate subjects ; the promotion of 
appropriate action for the improvement of vital statistics and the 
extension of the registration area of such statistics ; and coopera- 
tion with the health activities of the various states and cities of 
the nation. 

We believe that true popular government, justice, and prosperity 
go hand in hand, and, so believing, it is our purpose to secure 
that large measure of general prosperity which is the fruit of 
legitimate and honest business, fostered by equal justice and by 
sound progressive laws. 

We demand that the test of true prosperity shall be the benefits 
conferred thereby on all the citizens, not confined to individuals 
or classes, and that the test of corporate efficiency shall be the 
ability better to serve the public ; that those who profit by control 
of business shall justify that profit and control by sharing with the 
public the fruits thereof. 

We therefore demand a strong national regulation of interstate 
corporations. The corporation is an essential part of modern busi- 
ness. The concentration of modern business in some degree is 
both inevitable and necessary for national and international busi- 
ness efficiency. But the existing concentration of vast wealth under 
a corporate system, unguarded and uncontrolled by the nation, 
has placed in the hands of a few men enormous, secret, irrespon- 
sible power over the daily life of the citizen — a power insufferable 
in a free government and certain of abuse. 

This power has been abused, in monopoly of national resources, 
in stock-watering, in unfair competition and unfair privileges, and 
finally in sinister influences on the public agencies of state and 
nation. We do not fear commercial power, but we insist that it 
shall be exercised openly, under public supervision and regulation 
of the most efficient sort which will preserve its good while eradi- 
cating and preventing its ill. 

To that end we urge the establishment of a strong federal ad- 
ministrative commission of high standing which shall maintain 
permanent active supervision over industrial corporations engaged 
in interstate commerce, doing for them what the Government now 
does for the national banks, and what is now done for the railroads 
by the Interstate Commerce Commission. 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 293 

Such a commission must enforce the complete publicity of those 
corporate transactions which are of public interest ; must attack 
unfair competition, false capitalization, and special privilege, and 
by continuous, trained watchfulness guard and keep open, equally 
to all, the highways of American commerce. Thus the business 
man will have certain knowledge of the law, and will be able to 
conduct his business easily in conformity therewith ; the investor 
will find security for his capital; dividends will be rendered more 
certain, and the savings of the people will be drawn naturally and 
safely into the channels of trade. 

Under such a system of constructive regulation legitimate busi- 
ness, freed from confusion, uncertainty, and fruitless litigation, 
will develop normally in response to the energy and enterprise of 
the American business man. 

We favor strengthening the Sherman Law by prohibiting agree- 
ments to divide territory or limit output ; refusing to sell to cus- 
tomers who buy from business rivals ; to sell below cost in certain 
areas while maintaining higher prices in other places ; using the 
power of transportation to aid or injure special business concerns, 
and other unfair trade practices. 

We pledge ourselves to the enactment of a patent law which 
will make it impossible for patents to be suppressed or used against 
the public welfare in the interests of injurious monopolies. 

We pledge our party to secure to the Interstate Commerce Com- 
mission the power to value the physical property of railroads. In 
order that the power of the commission to protect the people may 
not be impaired or destroyed, we demand the abolition of the 
Commerce Court. 

We believe there exists imperative need for prompt legislation 
for the improvement of our national currency system. We believe 
the present method of issuing notes through private agencies is 
harmful and unscientific. The issue of currency is fundamentally 
a government function and the system should have as basic prin- 
ciples soundness and elasticity. The control should be lodged 
with the Government and should be protected from domination or 
manipulation by Wall Street or any special interests. 

We are opposed to the so-called Aldrich Currency Bill because 
its provisions would place our currency and credit system in pri- 
vate hands, not subject to effective public control. 

The time has come when the Federal Government should coop- 
erate with manufacturers and producers in extending our foreign 
commerce. To this end we demand adequate appropriations by 
Congress and the appointment of diplomatic and consular officers 
solely with a view to their special fitness and worth, and not in 
consideration of political expediency. 



294 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

It is imperative to the welfare of our people that we enlarge and 
extend our foreign commerce. In every way possible our Federal 
Government should cooperate in this important matter. Ger- 
many's policy of cooperation between government and business 
has in comparatively few years made that nation a leading com- 
petitor for the commerce of the world. 

The natural resources of the nation must be promptly developed 
and generously used to supply the people's needs, but we cannot 
safely allow them to be wasted, exploited, monopolized, or con- 
trolled against the general good. We heartily favor the policy of 
conservation, and we pledge our party to protect the national for- 
ests without hindering their legitimate use for the benefit of all 
the people. Agricultural lands in the national forests are and 
should remain open to the genuine settler. Conservation will not 
retard legitimate development. The honest settler must receive 
his patent promptly without hindrance, rules, or delays. 

We believe that the remaining forests, coal and oil lands, water- 
powers, and other natural resources, still in state or national con- 
trol (except agricultural lands), are more likely to be wisely con- 
served and utilized for the general welfare if held in the public 
hands. In order that consumers and producers, managers and 
workmen, now and hereafter, need not pay toll to private monopo- 
lies of power and raw material, we demand that such resources 
shall be retained by the state or nation, and opened to immediate 
use under laws which will encourage development and make to 
the people a moderate return for benefits conferred. 

In particular we pledge our party to require reasonable compen- 
sation to the public for water-power rights hereafter granted by 
the public. We pledge legislation to lease the public grazing lands 
under equitable provisions now pending which will increase the 
production of food for the people and thoroughly safeguard the 
rights of the actual homemakers. Natural resources whose con- 
servation is necessary for the national welfare should be owned or 
controlled by the nation. 

We recognize the vital importance of good roads, and we pledge 
our party to foster their extension in every proper way, and we 
favor the early construction of national highways. We also favor 
the extension of the rural free delivery service. 

The coal and other natural resources of Alaska should be opened 
to development at once. They are owned by the people of the 
United States and are safe from monopoly, waste, or destruction 
only while so owned. We demand that they shall neither be sold 
nor given away except under the Homestead Law, but while held 
in government ownership shall be opened to use promptly upon 
liberal terms requiring immediate development. 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 295 

Thus the benefit of cheap fuel will accrue to the Government of 
the United States and to the people of Alaska and the Pacific 
Coast ; the settlement of extensive agricultural lands will be has- 
tened ; the extermination of the salmon will be prevented, and the 
just and wise development of Alaskan resources will take the place 
of private extortion of monopoly. We demand also that extortion 
or monopoly in transportation shall be prevented by the prompt 
acquisition, construction, or improvement by the Government of 
such railroads, harbor, and other facilities for transportation as 
the welfare of the people may demand. 

We promise the people of the Territory of Alaska the same 
measure of local self-government that was given to other American 
Territories, and that federal officials appointed there shall be 
qualified by previous bonafl.de residence in the territory. 

The rivers of the United States are the natural arteries of this 
continent. We demand that they shall be opened to traffic as in- 
dispensable parts of a great nation-wide system of transportation, 
in which the Panama Canal will be the central link, thus enabling 
the whole interior of the United States to share with the Atlantic 
and Pacific seaboards in the benefit derived from the canals. 

It is a national obligation to develop our rivers, and especially 
the Mississippi and its tributaries, without delay, under a compre- 
hensive general plan covering each river system from its source to 
its mouth, designed to secure its highest usefulness for naviga- 
tion, irrigation, domestic supply, water-power, and the prevention 
of floods. We pledge our party to the immediate preparation of 
such a plan which should be made and carried out in close and 
friendly cooperation between the nation, the state, and the cities 
affected. 

Under such a plan, the destructive floods of the Mississippi and 
other streams, which represent a vast and needless loss to the na- 
tion, would be controlled by forest conservation and water storage 
at the headwaters and by levees below, land sufficient to support 
millions of people would be reclaimed from the deserts and 
swamps, water-power enough to transform the industrial standing 
of whole states would be developed, adequate water terminals 
would be provided, transportation would revive, and the railroads 
would be compelled to cooperate as freely with the boat lines as 
with each other. 

The equipment, organization, and experience acquired in con- 
structing the Panama Canal soon will be available for the lakes- 
to-the-gulf deep waterway and other portions of this great work, 
and should be utilized by the nation in cooperation with the vari- 
ous states, at the lowest net cost to the people. 

The Panama Canal, built and paid for by the American people, 



296 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

must be used primarily for their benefit. We demand that the 
canal shall be so operated as to break the transportation monopoly 
now held and misused by the transcontinental railroads by main- 
taining sea competition with them, that ships directly or indi- 
rectly owned or controlled by American railroad corporations 
shall not be permitted to use the canal, and that American ships 
engaged in coastwise trade shall pay no tolls. 

The Progressive Party will favor legislation having for its aim 
the development of friendship and commerce between the United 
States and Latin-American nations^- 

We believe in a protective tariff which shall equalize conditions 
of competition between the United States and foreign countries, 
both for the farmer and the manufacturer, and which shall main- 
tain for labor an adequate standard of living. Primarily the benefit 
of any tariff should be disclosed in the pay envelope of the laborer. 
We declare that no industry deserves protection which is unfair to 
labor or which is operating in violation of federal law. We believe 
that the presumption is always in favor of the consuming public. 

We demand tariff revision because the present tariff is unjust 
to the people of the United States. Fair dealing toward the people 
requires an immediate downward revision of those schedules 
wherein duties are shown to be unjust or excessive. 

We pledge ourselves to the establishment of a non-partisan scien- 
tific tariff commission, reporting both to the President and to 
either branch of Congress, which shall report, — first, as to the costs 
of production, efficiency of labor, capitalization, industrial organiza- 
tion and efficiency, and the general competitive position in this 
country and abroad of industries seeking protection from Con- 
gress ; second, as to the revenue-producing power of the tariff and 
its relation to the resources of Government ; and third, as to the 
effect of the tariff on prices, operations of middle men, and on the 
purchasing power of the consumer. We believe that this commis- 
sion should have plenary p/ower to elicit information and for this 
purpose to prescribe a uniform system of accounting for the great 
protected industries. The work of the commission should not pre- 
vent the immediate adoption of acts reducing those schedules 
generally recognized as excessive. 

We condemn the Payne- Aldrich Tariff Bill as unjust to the 
people. The Republican organization is in the hands of those who 
have broken, and cannot be again trusted to keep, the promise of 
necessary downward revision. The Democratic Party is committed 
to the destruction of the protective system through a tariff for 
revenue only — a policy which would inevitably produce wide- 
spread industrial and commercial disaster. We demand the imme- 
diate repeal of the Canadian Reciprocity Act. 






THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 297 

We believe in a graduated inheritance tax as a national means 
of equalizing the obligations of holders of property to government, 
and we hereby pledge our party to enact such a federal law as will 
tax large inheritances, returning to the states an equitable percent- 
age of all amounts collected. We favor the ratification of the 
pending amendment to the Constitution giving the Government 
power to levy an income tax. 

The Progressive Party deplores the survival in our civilization 
of the barbaric system of warfare among nations, with its enor- 
mous waste of resources even in time of peace and the consequent 
impoverishment of the life of the toiling masses. 

We pledge the party to use its best endeavors to substitute judi- 
cial and other peaceful means of settling international differences. 

We favor an international agreement for the limitation of naval 
forces. Pending such an agreement, and as the best means of pre- 
serving peace, we pledge ourselves to maintain for the present the 
policy of building two battleships a year. 

We pledge our party to protect the rights of American citizen- 
ship at home and abroad. No treaty should receive the sanction of 
our Government which discriminates between American citizens 
because of birthplace, race, or religion, or that does not recognize 
the absolute right of expatriation. 

Through the establishment of industrial standards we propose 
to secure to the able-bodied immigrant and to his native fellow- 
workers, a larger share of American opportunity. 

We denounce the fatal policy of indifference and neglect which 
has left our enormous immigrant population to become the prey 
of chance and cupidity. We favor governmental action to encour- 
age the distribution of immigrants away from the congested cities, 
to rigidly supervise all private agencies dealing with them, and to 
promote their assimilation, education, and advancement. 

We pledge ourselves to a wise and just policy of pensioning 
American soldiers and sailors and their widows and children by 
the Federal Government. 

And we approve the policy of the Southern States in granting 
pensions to the ex-Confederate soldiers and sailors and their 
widows and children. 

We pledge our party to the immediate creation of a parcels 
post with rates proportionate to distance and service. 

We condemn the violations of the Civil Service Law under the 
present administration, including the coercion and assessment of 
subordinate employes, and the President's refusal to punish such 
violation after a finding of guilty by his own commission ; his dis- 
tribution of patronage among subservient Congressmen, while 
withholding it from those who refuse to support administration 



298 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

measures ; his withdrawal of nominations from the Senate until 
political support for himself was secured, and his open use of the 
offices to reward those who voted for his renomination. 

To eradicate these abuses, we demand not only the enforcement 
of the Civil Service Act in letter and spirit, but also legislation 
which will bring under the competitive system postmasters, col- 
lectors, marshals, and all other non-political officers, as well as the 
enactment of an equitable retirement law, and we also insist upon 
continued service during good behavior and efficiency. 

We pledge our party to readjustment of the business methods 
of the National Government and a proper coordination of the 
federal bureaus which will increase the economy and efficiency of 
the government service, prevent duplications, and secure better 
results to the taxpayers for every dollar expended. 

The people of the United States are swindled out of many mil- 
lions of dollars every year, through worthless investments. The 
plain people, the wage-earner, and the men and women with small 
savings, have no way of knowing the merit of concerns sending out 
highly colored prospectuses offering stock for sale, prospectuses 
that make big returns seem certain and fortunes easily within 
grasp. 

We hold it to be the duty of the Government to protect its 
people from this kind of piracy. We, therefore, demand wise, care- 
fully-thought-out legislation that will give us such governmental 
supervision over this matter as will furnish to the people of the 
United States this much-needed protection, and we pledge our- 
selves thereto. 

On these principles and on the recognized desirability of uniting 
the progressive forces of the nation into an organization which 
shall unequivocally represent the progressive spirit and policy we 
appeal for the support of all American citizens, without regard to 
previous political affiliations. J 

After the adoption of the platform Mr. Roosevelt was nom- 
inated as candidate for President, by acclamation. The nomi- 
nating speeches were extremely laudatory. A striking feature 
of that part of the proceedings was the speech of Miss Jane 
Addams, seconding the nomination. Hardly less interesting 
were the speeches proposing Governor Hiram W. Johnson, of 
California, as candidate for Vice-President, who also was nomi- 
nated by acclamation. 

The ensuing canvass^ that culminated in the election of 
November, 1912, forms a chapter in our political history of 
which no American should be proud. It was an era of mis- 
representation, unreasoning rancor, and mud-throwing. There 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 299 

was no need of active campaigning on the part of the Demo- 
crats ; their divided enemies relieved them of anxiety, for the 
two factions, or rather the two parties, were too much occu- 
pied with mutual denunciation to spare any time in warfare 
against the party that both had previously held up to popular 
condemnation as the embodiment of evil. Republicans affected 
to belittle the Progressive movement, to sneer at it as a one- 
man affair, and persuaded themselves that it would end in 
complete failure. The Progressives were truly amazed at the 
spontaneous thronging of old-time Republicans to their ban- 
ner, and exultingly announced that the future was theirs. 
They firmly believed that the Republican party was dead be- 
yond resurrection, like the Whig party of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. Their devotion to the cause they had espoused was 
almost fanatical in its intensity. Something of the tone, akin 
to religious fervo'r, that had characterized their convention, 
survived in their campaigning. They seemed to regard those 
from whom the} 7 had but just separated themselves — party 
associates of a lifetime — somewhat as a fresh convert feels 
toward the bad companions of the past — bad only because 
they have not followed him to the " anxious seat." "Thou 
shalt not steal ! " — often uttered on the platform and in the 
press — was both their favorite rebuke to those with whom 
they could no longer keep company and a self-comforting 
assumption of virtue. 

" Thou shalt not bear false witness ! " was the retort. The 
accusation of theft had reference, of course, to the refusal of 
the Chicago convention to seat two or three score of Roose- 
velt contestants. The evidence in all those cases was available, 
and the Republican Committee published it, and — to its own 
satisfaction at least — proved that the contests were decided 
rightly. The Progressives made no attempt to put forth a 
counter-analysis of the contested election evidence. Their ac- 
cusation had accomplished all that they had hoped from it. 

Upon a careful study of the whole affair one can see that the 
manner in which the Republican party was to break in twain 
is the only thing that could not have been foreseen. The breach 
itself was inevitable. If the upshot of the convention had been 
different, if the control had been in the hands of the Roose- 
velt faction, and if they had placed the ex-President in nomi- 
nation on such a platform as they framed in August, those who 
supported Mr. Taft could not have transferred their support 



300 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

to the extreme Progressive candidate and his declaration of 
principles. There was no personal, no moral, no political bond 
that held the two factions together. 

It would not be useful to give a detailed history of the can- 
vass, from August to November. All the candidates made polit- 
ical speeches, and each advanced reasons more to the point 
why the others should not be elected than why he himself should 
be. The only dramatic incident of the time was an attempt 
upon the life of Mr. Roosevelt while he was making a political 
speech. He was shot and injured somewhat, but not very seri- 
ously. The assault created sympathy for him, and there was 
some suspension of political campaigning for a short time. But 
he was soon again active on the stump. 

Since the Ten Commandments were so often quoted as politi- 
cal maxims, it is strange that it did not occur to the partisans 
either of Mr. Taft or of Mr. Roosevelt to hurl the tenth at the 
Democrats : " Thou shalt not covet ! " For they were eagerly 
and gleefully preparing to seize and appropriate that which was 
still their neighbors', while those neighbors were wrathfully 
quarrelling over it. And they were sure of gaining possession 
of it. Queerly enough, both of the factions whom they were 
opposing also professed confidence in the result. The conflicting 
claims did not deceive dispassionate observers. A correspondent 
who accompanied Mr. Roosevelt on his western tour published, 
a full month before the election, a forecast that proved to be 
remarkably accurate. His main conclusions were that in all the 
western States except Utah Taft was out of the race, and would 
run " a bad third " ; that Wilson was well in the lead ; that 
through fear of Roosevelt many Taft men would vote for Wil- 
son ; that the rural districts were stronger for Roosevelt than 
the cities; and so on. Practically every one of those predic- 
tions was ultimately verified by the result. 

The Republicans were in an exasperating situation in sev- 
eral of the States by reason of the fact that candidates for elec- 
tors had been nomimated by the same conventions that chose 
delegates to the national convention. In those States where 
Roosevelt delegates had been successful the proposed electors 
were also partisans of the Progressive candidate. Some of them, 
even after the split, declined to withdraw. If they had per- 
sisted, and if the issue of the election had been different, a very 
singular situation might have developed, that, namely, of elec- 
tors chosen by one party supporting the candidates for President 






THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 301 

and Vice-President of a violently hostile party. In no less than 
sixteen States there were Roosevelt men on the Republican 
electoral tickets, and it was only two or three weeks before the 
fateful day in November that those tickets were " purged " in 
all the States except California. The Progressives were in full 
control of the Republican " machine " in that State, and re- 
fused to- allow any ticket to be voted therein that was composed 
of men loyal to the candidates of the party. 

The popular and electoral votes are shown on page 3$2: — 
The total vote for all candidates in 1912 was 14,937,351, 
as compared with 14,885,989 in 1908. The increase in four 
years, only 51,362, was less than the 73,098 votes of the new 
States of Arizona and New Mexico. Indeed, the Roosevelt 
and Taft strength combined was not as great as the Taft vote 
four years before by 109,335 ; and the Democratic vote was 
less by 145,724. Considering the undoubted fact that there 
was a large increase in the number of persons entitled to vote, 
the special increase of potential and actual voters in the Pacific 
States by the extension of the franchise to women, and the 
extremely active campaigning with the object of drawing out 
a full vote, the result in this particular is not easily explained. 
An examination of a table which follows will show that the 
only regions of the country where the aggregate poll was as 
large for the two — or three — parties, were New England and 
the Pacific States. 

One would be rash to analyze the results of the election 
with confidence. Of course every one knows that there were 
waves and counter-waves great and small, in the political 
ocean, but to assign its definite effect to each and thus to dis- 
cover the resultant of forces would be an act of political temer- 
ity. The grand wave was that which separated the Progressives 
from the Republican party, but the bare figures do not indicate 
accurately the magnitude of that wave. The vote for Roose- 
velt exceeded that for Taft by 634,551. Does that mean that 
more than four million Republicans deserted their party — 
more than one-half of those who voted for Taft in 1908 ? 
Possibly, but not certainly. For there were two other move- 
ments, at least, at the same time, one of which increased the 
Roosevelt vote at the expense of the Democrats ; the other, 
and probably the larger, diminished the vote for Taft for the 
benefit of the Democrats. There were Democrats of the radi- 
cal faction who feared the conservatism of their own candidate 



302 



A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 



States 



Alabama 

Arizona 

Arkansas 

California 

Colorado 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

Florida 

Georgia 

Idaho 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts.. 

Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire 

New Jersey 

New Mexico — 

New York 

North Carolina.. 
North Dakota . . 

Ohio 

Oklahoma 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania... 
Rhode Island... 
South Carolina.. 
South Dakota. . . 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah 

"Vermont 

Virginia 

"Washington 

"West Virginia. . 

"Wisconsin 

"Wyoming 



Popular Vote 



2 
P 

03 O 

o 3 

CO 01 



82,439 

10,32-4 

68,838 

283,436 

114,223 

74,561 

22,631 

36,417 

93,171 

33,921 

405,048 

281,890 

185,325 

143,670 

219,584 

60,966 

51,113 

112,674 

173,408 

150,751 

106,426 

57,164 

330,746 

27,941 

109,008 

7,986 

34,724 

178,289 

20,437 

655,475 

144,507 

29,555 

423,152 

119,156 

47,064 

395,619 

30,142 

48,355 

48,942 

130,335 

221,589 

36,579 

15,350 

90,332 

86,840 

113.197 

164,409 

15,310 



r. > 



22,689 

6,949 

21,673 

283,610 

72,306 

34,129 

8,886 

4,535 

22,010 

25,527 

386,478 

162.007 

161,819 

120,123 

102,766 

9,323 

48,493 

57,786 

142,228 

214,584 

125,856 

3,627 

124,371 

22,456 

72,689 

5,620 

17,794 

145,410 

8,347 

390,021 

69,130 

25,726 

229,327 

37*600 

447,426 
16,878 
1,293 
58,811 
53,725 
26,755 
24,174 
22,070 
21,777 

113.698 

79,112 

58.661 

9,232 



§& 



9,731 

3,021 

24,297 

3,914 

58,386 

68,324 

15,998 

4,279 

5,190 

32,810 

253,613 

151,267 

119,805 

74,844 

115,512 

3,834 

26,545 

54,956 

155,948 

152,244 

64,334 

1,511 

207,821 

18,512 

54,216 

3,196 

32,927 

88,835 

17,733 

455.428 

29,139 

23,090 

277,066 

90,786 

34,673 

273,305 

27,703 

536 

59*444 
28,853 
42,100 
23,305 
2.3,288 
70,445 
56,754 
130,878 
14.560 



Total 6,293,019 4,119,507 3,4S4,956 207,828 901,873 29,259 435 






265 

898 

23,366 

5,063 

2,068 

623 

1,854 

147 

1,537 

15,710 

19,249 

8,440 

3*233 

945 
2,244 
2,754 
8,934 

7,886 

5,380 

32 

3,383 

*535 

2,878 

19,427 

117 

1,243 

11,459 
2,185 
4,360 

19,533 



3,910 

825 
1,738 

1,154 
709 
9,810 
4,517 
8,467 
434 



£»*, 



3,029 

3,163 

8,153 

79,201 

16,418 

70,056 

556 

4,806 

1,014 

11,960 

81,278 

36,931 

16,967 

26,807 

11,647 

5,249 

2,541 

3.996 

12,616 

23,211 

27.505 

2,017 

28,466 

10,S85 

10,885 

3,313 

1,981 

15,801 

2,859 

63,381 

1,025 

6,966 

89,930 

42.262 

13,343 

83,164 

2,049 

164 

4,662 

3,492 

25,743 

9,023 

928 

820 

40,134 

15,248 

34,168 

2,760 



cj O 

£3 



5 O 

'Sex? 



475 
1,260 



4,066 
3,130 



956 



322 
1,102 
1,252 
2,212 

1,778 



1,321 
4,251 

2*623 



704 
236 



442 
509 



50 

1,872 



Electoral 
Vote 



12 



13 



as 



ss 



THE REPUBLICAN SCHISM 



303 



and who admired Mr. Roosevelt. On the other hand there were 
Republicans who, either from dissatisfaction with Mr. Taft on 
account of his reciprocity policy or on account of his action on 
other public questions, or from fear that Mr. Roosevelt would 
be successful, voted for Mr. Wilson. It would be mere guess- 
work to estimate the relative importance of these several move- 
ments ; or to determine definitely whether it is true, as has 
been hastily assumed, that more than one-half of the Repub- 
licans went over to the Progressive candidate ; or to account 
for a decrease of one-fifth in the Prohibition vote, at a time 
when the prohibitionist idea seemed to be carrying all before 
it in many parts of the country ; or to explain the doubling 
of the Socialist vote when there was no outward manifestation 
of a growth of political socialism. 

Nevertheless it may interest some students of the political 
tendencies of the time to seek enlightenment by extracting 
whatever significance there may be in the subjoined table, 
which shows the vote at the last two elections by geographical 
sections. The only explanation of the grouping of the States 
that is necessary, aside from that given in the notes, is that 
the States designated as the " extreme South" are those where 
it is not deemed worth while for either Democrats or Repub- 
licans to go to the polls. The total number of votes cast in the 
eight States for all candidates was 926,079 ; the population in 
1910 was more than sixteen and a half million ; that is, about 
fifty-five votes to a thousand of the population. 





Bryan 

1908 


Wilson 
1912 


Taft 
1908 


Roosevelt 
1912 


Taft 
1912 


New England 

Middle StatesL... 
Middle Souths.... 
Extreme Souths.. 

Near West i 

Middle West s 

Pacific s 


329,058 
1,298,820 
1,322,020 

664,284 
2,126,153 

305,559 

362,088 


379,298 
1,229,383 
1,261,668 

690,433 
1,863,253 

298,674 

539,549 


582,411 
1,881,175 
1,262,839 

214,154 
2,731,720 

488,024 

517,465 


281,592 
982,857 
517,449 
112,009 
1,405,688 
291,782 
512,834 


334,752 

817,568 
654,707 
77,222 
1,213,933 
195,406 
170,614 






Total 


6,407,982 


6,262,258 


7,677,788 


4,104,211 


3,464,202 





i New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. 

2 Arkansas, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Okla- 
homa, Tennessee, West Virginia. 

3 Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, 
Virginia. 

* Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Wisconsin. 

s Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming. 

6 California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Washington. 



304 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

There was a quick subsidence of excitement at once after 
the election. Indeed, the result had been generally foreseen, 
and the only occasion for surprise was the extent of the Pro- 
gressive inroad upon the Republican forces and the insignifi- 
cant electoral vote given to Taft. The count of the vote in 
the joint session of Congress presented no incident worthy of 
mention. 

The inauguration of Wilson and Marshall on the 4th of 
March, 1913, was an unusually brilliant occasion. Democrats 
throughout the country celebrated the return of their party to 
full control of the government after a long period of exclu- 
sion. The throng of strangers in Washington was reported to 
have been larger than at any previous inauguration, and the 
visitors were favored with pleasant weather. Mr. Wilson 
passed from his hotel to the White House, before the cere- 
mony, through a double line of Princeton students. President 
Taft accompanied him to the Capitol, and also on his return 
to the White House. The ceremonies followed the usual course. 
The oath of office was administered to Vice-President Marshall 
in the Senate Chamber; and the Supreme Court, the President- 
elect, and both Houses of Congress then proceeded to the east 
front of the Senate wing, where the oath was administered to 
Mr. Wilson by Chief Justice White. A procession of many 
thousands escorted the new President to his official residence, 
where he reviewed it, and the new administration had come 
into being. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 

If a member of the Convention that framed the Constitution 
were to come back to earth, what feature of the present situa- 
tion would most astonish him ? That the population of less 
than four millions in 1790 had grown into a nation of more 
than ninety millions in 1910 ? That the area of the Union had 
increased from 900,000 square miles to more than 3,000,000, 
— not to mention island possessions in two oceans ? That the 
government which the Convention devised had endured for 
nearly a century and a quarter, and was more united and more 
stable at the end of the period than at the beginning ? That 
the government had not only endured, but had remained un- 
changed, so far as the written Constitution was concerned, ex- 
cept in minor and unimportant details ? 

After all, is not that last-mentioned fact the most astonish- 
ing of all ? The fathers undoubtedly expected expansion and 
growth, for they provided for it. They might have hoped, with 
many a doubt, that their work would be lasting, for they de- 
clared their purpose to be the creation of " a more perfect 
union." But they could not have anticipated that — granted 
such a growth as the country has experienced — radical changes 
would not be found necessary, that their Constitution would 
prove self-adaptable to conditions enormously modified. In 
that fact more than in any other lies the explanation of the 
political miracle of the American Republic — the adaptability 
of the Constitution. 

Each of the three great divisions of the government has 
found an elasticity in the terms of the Constitution which has 
enabled it to discharge duties and to meet conditions that 
could not have been foreseen when that Constitution was 
framed. The Supreme Court, in which resides the plenary form 
of the Judicial Department, has assumed and exercises without 
question the power of construing the laws according to the 
spirit of the Constitution, — a power which even Hamilton de- 
clared 1 was not directly conferred, and which he thought it 
1 See No. lxxxi of the Federalist. 



306 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

unlikely that the Court would exercise. Congress has discov- 
ered implied powers in the specific grants contained in the 
eighth section of the first article, hy the use of which it takes 
complete and undisputed jurisdiction over matters and indus- 
tries unknown to the eighteenth century. One can fancy Luther 
Martin, the great objector, opening his eyes over a construction of 
the clause granting power to lay taxes, under which Congress 
passes an act having for its sole object a prohibition of the use 
of a certain ingredient in the manufacture of matches ; or of 
the clause granting power to regulate commerce as justifying a 
requirement that railway cars shall be equipped with air brakes. 

But it is in the Executive Department that the largest de- 
velopment has taken place, and the development of the great- 
est constitutional significance. It is the only one of the three 
departments in which development has been in any degree at 
the expense of either of the other two. The Constitution does 
not make an absolute separation of powers, but it defines the 
limits of the participation of each department in the field as- 
signed to the other two. Of the Executive Department alone 
can it be asserted that it has exceeded those limits. Whether 
the assertion be true or false — and upon that no opinion is at 
present expressed — two remarks may be made : first, that there 
has been no violation of the letter of the Constitution in the 
evolution of the presidency ; and, second, that there has been 
no general, indeed, hardly an occasional and sporadic, objection 
to the increase of the President's power. As in the cases of the 
Supreme Court and of Congress, popular acquiescence may be 
held to have justified a real constitutional change which has 
not found expression in an amendment. 

Nevertheless it is necessary to make note of the changes 
that have taken place, and to follow them historically. 

The founders of our republics . . . seem never for a moment to 
have turned their eyes from the danger to liberty from the over- 
grown and all-grasping prerogative of an hereditary magistrate, 
supported and fortified by an hereditary branch of the legislative 
authority. They seem never to have recollected the danger from 
legislative usurpations, which, by assembling all power into the 
same hands, must lead to the same tyranny as is threatened by 
executive usurpations. 

So wrote Madison in number xlvii of the "Federalist." 
He was discussing the distribution of powers between the 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 307 

President and Congress, in the Constitution which the writers 
of the " Federalist " were endeavoring to persuade the people of 
New York to ratify. His argument was, in effect, that en- ( 
croachments upon liberty are always to be guarded against, 
whether the offender be the executive, concentrated in a single 
person, or in the legislature ; and that the Constitution provided 
ample security against the danger in either form. His opinion 
evidently was that the more immediate danger was that from 
legislative usurpation. " The legislative department is every- 
where extending the sphere of its activity, and drawing all power 
into its impetuous vortex. " 1 That the peril thus signalized was 
foremost in the minds of the framers of the Constitution, is 
made plainly evident by an examination of the document itself. 
The functions which were conferred upon Congress, and those 
which were forbidden to it, are specified with minuteness. On the 
other hand, the powers of the President are expressed in broad 
and general terms, and are accompanied by no prohibitions. 
Let us see what, exactly, those powers are : in conjunction with 
the Senate, to make treaties, and to appoint all officers ; to re- 
ceive ambassadors ; to be commander-in-chief of the army and 
navy ; to grant pardons ; to give to Congress information of the 
state of the union ; to summon Congress in extraordinary ses- 
sion; to recommend measures to the consideration of Congress ; 
to exercise a qualified veto upon legislation. These are all pow- 
ers, as distinguished from duties, because all of them call for 
the exercise of a discretion whether on any given occasion to 
use them or not. The sole duty imposed upon him is to " take 
care that the laws be faithfully executed." 

It is a commonplace to all who have studied the political 
history of the country that the early Presidents took a modest 
view of their power in the government. No President has ever 
assumed direct personal command of the army or the navy. From 
the beginning the Presidents exercised a controlling power 
over the foreign relations, and maintained with spirit their 

1 In this passage Mr. Madison unconsciously or deliberately, repeated him- 
self. In his diary of the Convention for July 17, 1787, occurs the following: 
"Mr. Madison was not apprehensive of being thought to favor any step to- 
wards monarchy. The real object with him was to prevent its introduction. 
Experience had proved a tendency in our governments to throw all power 
into the legislative vortex. The executives of the States are in general little 
more than cyphers; the legislatures omnipotent. If no effectual check be de- 
vised for restraining the instability & encroachments of the latter, a revolu- 
tion of some kind or other would be inevitable." 



308 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

prerogative of initiative in all such matters as the negotiation 
of treaties and the recognition of foreign governments. They 
have also successfully resisted, as well as resented, attempts to 
draw from them the details of instructions to American pleni- 
potentiaries, and of correspondence "with foreign governments, 
which they deemed it to be for the public welfare to withhold. 
But there were in the early days no other than the most formal 
official relations between the President and the Congress. It 
was the function of Congress to initiate and pass laws; that of 
the President to approve or disapprove them when presented 
to him. 

Students of public and official life in New York and Phila- 
delphia during Washington's presidency know that the parti- 
san opposition to the Father of his Country dwelt upon his 
asserted liking for the fashions of a monarchical court; upon his 
firmness in the conduct of foreign affairs, as in the matter of 
the Jay Treaty ; upon the vigor displayed in the suppression 
of the Whiskey insurrection in Pennsylvania. Senator William 
Maclay criticised him as wishing to " subjugate " the Senate 
because it was not provided in the bills creating the executive 
departments that the Senate was to be consulted in the matter 
of the removal of the heads of those departments. 1 

The makers of the Constitution devoted much time and dis- 
cussion to the Executive Department, but hardly any to the 
consideration of matters with which we are now concerned. 
They made many contradictory decisions upon the questions 
whether there should be a single Executive ; how he should be 
chosen ; the length of his tenure of the office ; whether he 
should or should not be eligible for reelection ; whether his 
veto should be absolute or qualified, and if qualified whether 
a two-thirds or three-fourths vote should be required to over- 
ride it. There was almost no discussion of the clauses specify- 
ing his powers and duties — of the clauses in the phraseology 
finally agreed upon, no discussion at all. 

Let us now consider in what directions and to what extent 
the presidency has been extended and developed since the Con- 

1 It is interesting to note, as illustrating the great differences of opinion as 
to the effect of the Constitution before that effect had manifested itself in prac- 
tice, that Mr. James Wilson, also of Pennsylvania, in discussing this very 
subject of the participation of the Senate in appointments by the President, — 
in the session of September 6, in the Convention of 1787, — maintained that 
the proposed Constitution created an aristocracy, by "throwing a dangerous 
power into the hands of the Senate." 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 309 

stitution was put in operation. As for certain plenary powers 
there could be no expansion. The general command of the mil- 
itary and naval forces ; the grant of pardons ; the summoning 
of one or both houses of Congress in extraordinary session ; the 
negotiation of treaties to be ratified by the Senate ; and the 
nomination of officers to be confirmed by the Senate ; — these 
are all powers explicitly conferred without qualification ; and 
the duty of seeing that the laws be faithfully executed also 
rests upon the President alone. The right to receive ambassa- 
dors, as has been said already, was, in early days, construed to 
give the President power to recognize, or to refuse to recog- 
nize, a revolutionary government, by deciding whether or not 
to receive a person accredited as a diplomatic representative of 
that government. His right thus to fix its relation — or want of 
relation — to the government of the United States has been 
often disputed on the floor of both houses of Congress, but 
there is believed to be no example of an effective overruling of 
the President's decision. The exercise of the power may be 
treated as a natural and not unreasonable extension of a power 
specifically conferred, and the power itself as one which — not 
being derivable from any grant to Congress, and yet necessarily 
within the jurisdiction of some department of every sovereign 
government — falls obviously to that department which has 
primarily the oversight of foreign relations. 

Outside of the powers and duties just mentioned, as to only 
one of which has there ever been any dispute, there are three 
directions in which the presidency has extended itself largely: 
in the matter of removals from office; in the use of the veto 
power ; and in the relations between the President and Con- 
gress. We will take them in the above order. 

The Convention of 1787 discussed repeatedly the method of 
appointment of the civil officers of the United States, but did 
not once consider the general subject of removals. Mr. G-ouver- 
neur Morris submitted a plan for a Council of State, consisting 
of the Chief Justice and five heads of departments, each of 
whom was to " be liable to impeachment and removal from 
office, for neglect of duty, malversation, or corruption " ; but 
it was merely referred to the Committee of Detail and heard 
from no more. With that exception, and with the further ex- 
ception of some consideration of the removability of judges, the 
corollary that appointment in numerous cases implies previous 



310 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

removal from office, was not once mentioned. The omission was 
quickly perceived by the opponents of the Constitution, who 
made the objection that whereas appointments were required 
to have the consent of the Senate, the President would exercise 
the right of removal alone. Hamilton 1 held the opposite opin- 
ion. " The consent of that body [the Senate] would be ne- 
cessary," he wrote, " to displace as well as to appoint." So 
evidently thought Mr. Justice Story, although he expressed 
himself in guarded language. His " Commentaries on the Con- 
stitution" was written during the administration of Andrew 
Jackson, whose wholesale removals from office — characterized 
by Story as an "extraordinary change of system" — has, he 
says, u awakened general attention, and brought back the 
whole controversy with regard to the executive power of re- 
moval to a severe scrutiny. Many of the most eminent states- 
men in the country have expressed a deliberate opinion that it 
is utterly indefensible, and that the only sound interpretation 
of the Constitution is that avowed upon its adoption ; that is 
to say, that the power of removal belongs to the appointing 
power." 

Chancellor Kent wrote his " Commentaries " a few years ear- 
lier, in the administration of John Quincy Adams, before the 
" extraordinary change of system " took place, and his opinion 
was different. He held that the construction in favor of the 
President's exclusive power of removal was " supported by the 
weighty reason that the subordinate officers in the Executive 
Department ought to hold at the pleasure of the head of that 
Department, because he is invested generally with the execu- 
tive authority, and every participation in that authority by the 
Senate was an exception to a general principle, and ought to 
be taken strictly. The President is the great responsible officer 
for the faithful execution of the law, and the power of removal 
was incidental to that duty, and might often be requisite to 
fulfil it." 

Both Kent and Story refer, with expressions of amazement, 
to the strangely haphazard way in which the current interpre- 
tation of the Constitution became effective. But they do not 
mention the occasion on which the question was first raised. 
For information on that point we are indebted to the frank and 
racy diary of William Maclay, one of the first senators from 
Pennsylvania. Less than two months after the inauguration of 
1 In No. lxxvii of the Federalist. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 311 

Washington as President (April 30, 1789), Mr. John Jay — 
who at that time held no office x — " came in," wrote Mr. 
Maclay, and informed the Senate that Mr. Jefferson wished to 
return from France, and that the President nominated William 
Short as his successor as Minister to France. This was on June 
17. Apparently it was the first nomination ever sent to the Sen- 
ate, for Mr. Maclay says that the Vice-President immediately 
began telling the senators how they were to give their " advice 
and consent." Two days later Mr. Maclay made a speech on 
the constitutional problem involved. Had the President a right, 
by himself alone, to give Mr. Jefferson leave of absence ? If the 
Senate should choose to negative his return it would be neces- 
sary only to refuse to confirm Mr. Short or any one else in his 
place. 

In July the bill for organizing the Department of Foreign 
Affairs came up to the Senate from the House of Representa- 
tives. It contained a clause, innocent at first sight, providing 
that the Secretary should appoint a chief clerk who was to dis- 
charge the duties of the office " whenever the said principal 
officer shall be removed from office by the President of the 
United States." The clause had been vigorously attacked in 
the House of Representatives, but had been allowed to stand. 
Now a renewed attack was made upon it. From Mr. Maclay's 
account of the debate, which lasted several days, it is easy to 
see that the discussion was animated and angry. There are re- 
ferences in the diary to the efforts of the "court party " to save 
the clause, and certain senators are mentioned by name as hav- 
ing " recanted" and become supporters of the clause after speak- 
ing against it. When the vote was taken it was a tie — ten to 
ten. " The Vice-President with joy cried out, ' It is not a vote ! ; 
without giving himself time to declare the division of the 
House and give his vote in order." The interpretation thus 
casually put upon the Constitution by the casting vote of the. 
Vice-President was not seriously challenged for more than three 
quarters of a century. 

The early Presidents used the power of removal sparingly. 
Washington removed only nine officers during his eight years 
of service, and in every case the removal was for cause. The 
two Adamses, Madison, and Monroe also exercised great for- 
bearance. Jefferson used his power a little more freely, but he 

1 Unless his appointment as Foreign Secretary under the Articles of Con- 
federation was still effective. 



312 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

expressly disclaimed the right to remove for differences of po- 
litical opinion, or otherwise than for some clear public good. 
During the administration of Monroe, the " era of good feel- 
ings," there were not two parties. All men professed themselves 
to be Republicans. Party spirit was reinvoked in the adminis- 
tration of the second Adams ; but he refused to punish with 
dismissal officers who placed themselves in opposition to his 
administration, and the officers whom he left in office at the end 
of his term were not generally men whom he had appointed, 
and they were by no means persons selected with a view to 
promoting his own political future. There was therefore no 
reason, other than to reward those who had supported him 
in the canvass of 1828, that can be assigned as the motive of 
General Jackson's immediate and radical change of system. 
"Within one year from the time of his entry upon office he dis- 
missed two hundred and forty-three officers, including nearly 
all in the diplomatic, treasury, and civil court services, and his 
Postmaster-General removed four hundred and ninety-one post- 
masters. Story, who gives these figures in a note, 1 credits them 
to a speech of Mr. Clayton in the Senate, March 4, 1830, and 
says that they are " confessedly imperfect." He also says that 
it is not probable that the aggregate of removals during the 
forty years preceding Jackson's administration amounted to one 
third of the number of Jackson's removals in a single year. 

The opponents of the President regarded his action as a 
great scandal, but the theory on which it was based was de- 
fended by his supporters. The classic defence was contained 
in a speech by William L. Marcy in the Senate in January, 
1832. 2 In speaking of the politicians of the time he said, 
" When they are contending for victory, they avow the inten- 
tion of enjoying the fruits of it. If they are defeated, they 
expect to retire from office. If they are successful, they claim, 
as a matter of right, the advantages of success. They see no- 
thing wrong in the rule that to the victor belong the spoils of 
' the enemy." Although the opposition party protested strongly 
against the "rule," they followed it when their turn came. 
Jackson set a fashion which was followed by his successors. For 
more than forty years every change in the party control of the 
national government was made the occasion of a political mas- 

1 Commentaries, book in, chapter xxxvn. 

2 During his first month of service in that body. He took his seat in De- 
cember, 1831, and resigned to become governor of New York in July, 1832. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 313 

sacre. Possibly there was a better excuse for it -when Lincoln 
became President than on some former occasions, since there 
was real reason to doubt the loyalty of officers, high and low, 
in the North as well as in the South. But the rule that offices 
were a legitimate perquisite not merely of the party in power 
but of the particular persons who happened to be in the exercise 
of power as well, engrafted itself upon the simpler rule, and 
was carried out in a relentless manner during the administra- 
tion of General Grant. It was not enough that one holding an 
office should be a loyal, even an active, member of the Repub- 
lican party. He must also be persona grata to the President, 
or to the senator to whose share that particular piece of patron- 
age fell. No more scandalous chapter of political history can 
be cited than that which covers the story of the New York cus- 
tom-house in Grant's time. 

The Jackson regime ended when Harrison and Tyler were 
installed. Polk turned out all the Whigs who had survived 
until his time. Taylor and Pillmore gave the Whigs a four 
years' taste of office, but they all went out under Pierce. 
Lincoln made a clean sweep of the Democrats, 1 — and then 
came Johnson. 

His breach with the party that elected him was gradual, but 
by the autumn of 1866 it was complete, and he began to 
wreak vengeance upon those who were opposing him in Con- 
gress by turning out of office those whom they had recom- 
mended, and filling their places with supporters of his " policy," 
who, of course, were Democrats. The removals — there were 
said to be 1283 postmasters and a corresponding number of 
officers of other departments, in the list — were made during 
the recess of the Senate, for Congress adjourned on July 28, 
and did not meet again until December. But when the second 
session of the Thirty-ninth Congress began there was immediate 
action to limit the President's power in this as in other direc- 
tions. The Tenure of Office Act was passed, was vetoed, and 
was passed again notwithstanding the objections of the Pres- 
ident, on the last day of the session — March 2, 1867. It was 
a comprehensive measure. It enacted that persons holding 
office by and with the advice and consent of the Senate were 
entitled to hold such office until their successors should be 

1 During that period, when the spoils system prevailed without dispute, 917 
removals were made by two successive collectors of the port of New York. 
The average number of employes in the custom-house was less than 700. 



314 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

duly appointed in like manner, and qualified; that the mem- 
bers of the Cabinet should hold their respective offices during the 
term of the President by whom they may have been appointed, 
and for one month thereafter, subject to removal by and with 
the advice and consent of the Senate ; that, during a recess of 
the Senate, for specified reasons, the President might suspend 
officers and designate persons to hold their places temporarily, 
but he was required to report such suspensions to the Senate, 
and if the Senate did not concur, the suspended officer resumed 
his office ; that when the President, in pursuance of his con- 
stitutional power, filled vacancies which might happen — not 
those caused by removal — during a recess of the Senate, if no 
appointment by and with the advice and consent of the Senate 
should be made during the ensuing session, the office was to 
remain in abeyance until an appointment should be made by 
the constitutional method. It was declared to be a high mis- 
demeanor to accept or exercise the duties of an office in viola- 
tion of the provisions of the act, punishable by a heavy fine or 
by imprisonment. 

The bill was introduced by Thaddeus Stevens, but in its 
final form was quite different from the original text. In the 
long debates which took place in both houses of Congress, the 
point most discussed was the application of the principle of the 
bill to cabinet officers, though the general constitutional ques- 
tion was considered in academical arguments. It was contended 
by the more conservative Republicans that the President should 
have a free hand so far as the heads of the executive depart- 
ments were concerned. But although the Senate struck out the 
clause relating to the secretaries, it was restored by the Com- 
mittee of Conference. The bill was passed by both branches by 
votes of about three to one. It was vetoed by President John- 
son, and passed over his veto by a majority even greater than 
that on accepting the report of the conference committee. 
This was the only instance in the constitutional history of the 
country when the veto power was invoked for what — as will 
be seen — Mr. Gerry and Hamilton himself regarded as the 
chief object of granting the President a " revisionary" power, 
namely, to enable him to resist encroachments on his consti- 
tutional authority. 

Inasmuch as Congress held the purse, and could discontinue 
the salary attached to any office which the President might 
attempt to fill in violation of the provisions of the act, he was 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 315 

forced to comply with it, — though his action in the matter of 
the removal of Secretary Stanton disregarded it. 

The debates in the two houses of Congress over the meas- 
ure make it plain that many members were dragged into the 
support of it against their better judgment. There were few — 
were there any? — members who repudiated the theory that 
the spoils belonged to the victors. The law which they were 
asked to pass would stand in the way of the next President 
whom the Eepublicans were sure to elect. But aside from that 
sordid argument, many of the members felt that it was a rather 
mean revenge which was planned for a political enemy. Some 
of them showed their reluctance to vote for it, but none except 
the " Johnson Republicans " gave their votes in the negative. 
Mr. Blaine, who voted for the bill, says in his " Twenty Years 
of Congress " that " the history of its operation, and of its 
subsequent modification, which amounted to repeal, is one to 
which the Republican party cannot recur with any sense of 
pride or satisfaction." * Even before the rlose of Johnson's 
administration a movement began to repeal the Tenure of Of- 
fice Act. The occasion for the measure was about to be a thing 
of the past. General Grant was soon to succeed the President 
who had made himself and his acts obnoxious to the party in 
power. In January, 1869, the House of Representatives, with 
no debate, passed a bill to repeal the law. The Senate was not 
willing to concur. The law of 1867 gave that body a power 
over removals which it was reluctant to relinquish. A com- 
mittee reported a substitute for the repealing bill, which did 
little more than exempt cabinet ministers from the operation 
of the act. Nothing more was done at that session, but at the 
extraordinary session which began simultaneously with Gen- 
eral Grant's term, the modification of the law which found 
favor with the Senate was reluctantly accepted by the House 
of Representatives which had, a second time, by a majority of 
five or six to one, voted for repeal. In that form the law stood 
until — during the first administration of President Cleveland, 
March 2, 1887 — the sections of the Revised Statutes covering 
the whole subject of removals from office were repealed, and 
by omission of all legislation on the point, the system which 
prevailed from Washington to Johnson was restored. 

But during the period following the Civil War the public 
conscience was awakened to the great evils and the political 
i Vol. ii, p. 274. 



316 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

demoralization that attended the treatment of office as a reward 
of party activity. Only those who are familiar with political 
conditions prior to that time can be aware of the universal in- 
difference to the scandal, not merely of the active politicians 
but of the people at large as well. In fact, the spoils system 
was taken as a matter of course by all, and was vigorously ap- 
plied by those even who might be classed as statesmen. The early 
reformers were regarded as idealists, too good for this wicked 
world, and they made slow progress. Indeed, so strongly 
rooted in the minds of politicians was the spoils doctrine, that 
opposition to the reform has not yet ceased. In some recent 
cases of the organization of new departments or bureaus, "de- 
serving" politicians have been admitted to the classified ser- 
vice by a back door, without competitive examination. 

Fortunately the Presidents have been, on the whole, uphold- 
ers of a better, the merit system. Congress passed an act in 
1871 which authorized the President to cause the proper means 
to be taken to ascertain the fitness of candidates for office. 
Under that act President Grant appointed a commission which 
instituted competitive examinations in the departments at 
Washington ; but after two years Congress refused to make 
further appropriations to enable the commission to continue its 
work, although the President praised the work already done 
and informed Congress that " it would be a source of mortifica- 
tion to himself" if the appropriation should be withheld. The 
President thereupon, in 1875, suspended the rules, and the re- 
form came to an end for the time being. But the reformers per- 
sisted, and after nearly eight years more of agitation succeeded 
in persuading Congress to pass the act of January 16, 1883, 
which President Arthur promptly approved. Under that law 
a classified service was established, in a small way at first, and 
covering only a comparatively few of the clerical officers in the 
executive departments and in large post-offices. The list has 
been increased by every President since that time and now in- 
cludes almost the whole civil service. The important exception 
is the offices that are still filled by appointment by the Presid- 
ent with the concurrence of the Senate. 

Thus the presidential office has developed in two opposite 
directions. From the policy of abstention from removals under 
the Presidents from Washington to the second Adams, it 
turned to the system of wholesale proscription under Jackson, 
and to that system it adhered until the reform which began 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 317 

under Grant was continued and extended by every President 
to the present time. Not that there have not been many viola- 
tions of the spirit of the reform. " Turn the rascals out " has 
been a party motto when there has been a change of adminis- 
tration, the " rascals " of course being all officers who supported 
the defeated party. Clerks and others appointed under the com- 
petitive system were secure, but consuls, collectors, postmas- 
ters, chief clerks, and others of that class were subject to 
removal, and in many cases were removed. To cite but one 
example, purely by way of example, and not to be invidious, 
the ravages wrought in the consular service under President 
Cleveland were inexcusable. But, as has been said, one Presid- 
ent after another has cut out class after class of officers who 
have been appointed as reward for party service, and brought 
them under the rules of the reformed civil service, and has 
thus diminished the number of those whom it will ever be worth 
while to displace in order to provide a position and a salary 
for some one more agreeable than the incumbent to the exist- 
ing administration. 

One clause of the Constitution which has not heretofore been 
mentioned was much discussed in 1904 in connection with cer- 
tain " recess " appointments made by President Roosevelt. The 
clause reads : — 

The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may 
happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions 
which shall expire at the end of their next session. 

The President, in January, 1903, nominated William D. 
Crum, a colored man, to be collector of the port of Charleston, 
South Carolina. An adverse report upon the nomination was 
made by the Senate Committee on Finance, but no action was 
taken on the report, and the session, and the Fifty-seventh 
Congress, came to an end on the 4th of March. The Senate 
met in special session on the same day, and the President again 
sent in the name of Mr. Crum. Again the Senate adjourned 
without action on the nomination. On the 20th of March the 
President, "during the recess of the Senate" issued a commis- 
sion to Mr. Crum. Congress met in extraordinary session in 
November, 1903, and the nomination was sent in a third time. 
Again no action was taken. The extraordinary session of Con- 
gress ended at noon on December 2, and at the same time, 
without any intermission, the regular session of the Senate be- 



318 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

gan. It appeared from an official letter from the Secretary of 
the Treasury that " precisely at twelve o'clock " on that day 
the President issued a new commission to Mr. Crum. At the 
same time he issued fresh commissions to one hundred and 
sixty-eight officers of the army. All those officers held recess 
appointments, and had been nominated to the Senate, and the 
Senate had not acted on them. The list of military officers was 
headed by the name of Brigadier-General Wood, nominated to 
be major-general, and all the other promotions were dependent 
upon that. His promotion was the only one to which there was 
opposition. The theory upon which the new commissions were 
issued was that between the end of the extraordinary session 
and the beginning of the regular session there was a " con- 
structive" recess. 

There were two constitutional questions involved in this 
case, although one of them was discussed but little on that oc- 
casion. For it seems to have been tacitly agreed, long ago, that 
the word " happen " in the clause quoted above is to be inter- 
preted to signify happen to be existing. That is to say, a va- 
cancy actually occurring in November, before Congress meets, 
may be filled by the President in the following July if the 
Senate has not confirmed any appointee. A contrary view was 
taken in an able report of the Judiciary Committee of the Sen- 
ate in 1863, during Mr. Lincoln's presidency, and the Tenure 
of Office Act expressly provided that if the Senate did not 
confirm an appointment the office should remain in abeyance 
until it should be filled by an appointment to which the Sen- 
ate consented. But the usual practice before the Civil War, 
and after the repeal of the Tenure of Office Act, was to per- 
mit the President to fill any office in which a vacancy existed, 
— no matter when it first " happened," — when the Senate was 
not in session. 

But President Roosevelt's action raised a new problem, and 
gave rise to much hair-splitting argument. No one, on either 
side of the Senate, openly maintained that there was anything 
in the idea of a constructive recess, but some of the senators 
held that as the two sessions merged into each other the original 
recess appointments held until the adjournment of the Senate 
at the close of the regular session. Even that construction 
was a virtual condemnation of the reissue of commissions and 
the renewal of the nominations. It was brought out in the 
Senate debate by Mr. Tillman, of South Carolina, who took 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 319 

the lead in opposing the new gloss on the Constitution, that 
in 1867 the Senate refused to close the final session of the 
Thirty-ninth Congress at half-past eleven o'clock on March 4, 
because that would leave a recess of half an hour before the 
meeting of the Fortieth Congress, in which time President 
Johnson, whom Senator Sumner characterized as " a bad 
man," might work mischief by recess appointments. At the 
close of the Senate debate in 1904 the resolution offered by 
Mr. Tillman was adopted. It directed the Committee on the 
Judiciary to report " what constitutes a ' recess of the Senate/ 
and what are the powers and limitations of the Executive in 
making appointments in such cases." The committee did not 
report, and the whole subject was dropped, probably with the 
idea that the publicity given to the matter and the unanimity 
of the Senate on the question, would be sufficient to render 
unlikely similar action by any future President. 

The extension of the use of the veto power is the second 
large development of the presidential office. There is no doubt 
that the intention of the framers of the Constitution would not 
have sanctioned the present interpretation of the clause grant- 
ing the power. There is equally, of course, no doubt that the 
intention of the fathers cannot and ought not to control, to the 
prevention of anything that circumstances render necessary, and 
that Congress and the people sanction by their acquiescence. 
More especially is that true if the change is clearly admissible 
under the language of the Constitution. 

The provision which gives the President a qualified veto 
upon legislation was discussed many times in the Convention. 
The votes upon it were far more consistent than those upon 
many other features of the Constitution. In fact, the Con- 
vention hardly wavered at any time from the decision that the 
power should reside in the President alone, and that his veto 
should be overruled by a two-thirds vote of each branch of the 
legislature. But several other propositions were made and urged 
with earnestness : that the veto should be absolute ; that it 
should require a three-fourths vote to pass bills over the veto ; 
that a council of revision, with a negative power, should be 
formed to consider bills ; and that some of the judges should be 
joined with the President to exercise the power. The last-men- 
tioned modification was that which was most frequently brought 
forward, most persistently pressed, and supported by the strong- 



320 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

est authority. Mr. Madison favored it and spoke many times 
in its support. Mr. Gouverneur Morris and Mr. Ellsworth were 
on the same side. It is in connection with this proposition that 
we get the most light as to the motives of the members of the 
Convention in providing a veto on congressional legislation. 
Almost the sole object seems to have been to prevent en- 
croachment by the legislative department upon the Executive 
and the Judiciary. That fact explains Mr. Madison's repeated 
efforts to have judges associated with the President. Mr. Gerry, 
who opposed the participation of judges in the veto power, said 
that " the object, he conceived, of the revisionary power was 
merely to secure the Executive Department against legislative 
encroachment. The Executive, therefore, who will best know 
and be ready to defend his rights, ought alone to have the de- 
fence of them." Mr. Morris — in the same debate 1 — ''con- 
curred in thinking the public liberty in greater danger from 
legislative usurpation than from any other source." Colonel 
Mason, and he alone, suggested " that the defence of the Ex- 
ecutive was not the sole object of the revisionary power. He 
expected even greater advantages from it. Notwithstanding the 
precautions taken in the constitution of the Legislature, it 
would still so much resemble that of the individual States, that 
it must be expected frequently to pass unjust and pernicious 
laws. This restraining power was therefore essentially neces- 
sary. It would have the effect not only of hindering the final 
passage of such laws, but would discourage demagogues from 
attempting to get them passed." 

Hamilton in the " Federalist " 2 takes precisely the view of 
Colonel Mason. In one place he refers to "the case for which 
it is chiefly designed, that of an immediate attack upon the 
constitutional rights of the Executive," and in another to " the 
propensity of the Legislative department to intrude upon the 
rights and to absorb the powers of the other departments," 
but he also says : — 

The power in question has a further use. It not only serves as 
a shield to the Executive, but it furnishes an additional security 
against the enaction of improper laws. It establishes a salutary 
check upon the legislative body, calculated to guard the commun- 
ity against the effects of faction, precipitancy, or of any impulse 
unfriendly to the public good, which may happen to influence a 
majority of that body. 

i July 21, 1787. 2 No. lxxiii. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 321 

He thought that " the negative would generally be employed 
with great caution, " and maintained "that there would be 
greater danger of his not using the power when necessary than 
of his using it too often or too much." 

Such was the commonly accepted theory of the veto power 
when the Constitution went into operation. The President 
was armed with a power to resist encroachment on his consti- 
tutional rights, and that power might also be employed to 
defeat bad laws. The early Presidents — in fact, no President 
before Andrew Johnson — were not forced to use it to resist 
encroachments upon the constitutional rights of the Executive. 
They interpreted the phrase "bad laws" to mean only uncon- 
stitutional measures, and measures obviously objectionable be- 
cause passed without due consideration. Washington vetoed 
only two bills during his eight years of service. The first of 
them was an apportionment bill based on the first census. He 
was urged to disapprove the bill not only because it was — 
in the view of Jefferson, but not in that of Hamilton — vio- 
lative of the Constitution, but in order to assert a power which 
the people might come to believe was never to be exercised. 
The other bill was hastily drawn and self-contradictory in one 
clause. Neither John Adams nor Jefferson vetoed any bill. 
Madison sent in six vetoes in eight years, — four on the 
ground of unconstitutionality, or because — among other reasons 
— it "introduces an unsuitable relation of members of the 
Judiciary Department to a discretionary authority of the 
Executive Department " — virtually a constitutional objection; 
and the sixth because of a defect in drafting. Monroe, in 
eight years, vetoed one bill only, — an " internal improve- 
ments " bill, - — and that on the ground that it was unconstitu- 
tional. John Quincy Adams, although dealing with a Congress 
politically hostile to him, did not once exercise the power. 

Andrew Jackson vetoed nine bills. Six of them were ob- 
jected to as being repugnant to the Constitution. The others 
did not commend themselves to him as being wise. He was 
thus the first to treat the constitutional power of veto as one 
which authorized the President to interpose his judgment on 
a question of public policy to defeat a congressional enactment. 
No doubt he had ample warrant in the text of the Constitu- 
tion and in the opinions of its original interpreters for holding 
that he possessed authority so to do. Jackson was also the 
first to employ the "pocket" veto, but he did not employ it 



322 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

in the same way as became habitual with later Presidents. In 
1812 Madison returned to Congress a bill which was submit- 
ted to him too late in the previous session to be returned 
with his objections. That, therefore, was the first approach to 
a "pocket" veto. Jackson, in like manner, sent a message to 
the Senate, in 1833, giving the reasons why he had not approved 
a bill submitted to him just before the close of the previous 
session. The next year he incorporated in his annual message 
his reasons for not approving another bill which reached him 
too late for his consideration. Still later, he prepared a message 
giving his objections to another bill, submitted under similar 
circumstances ; but that message he never sent to Congress, but 
filed it with the Secretary of State. In none of these cases was 
there anything irregular, or anything to which even a violent 
partisan could take exception. It is not the duty of a President 
to sign a bill to which he has objections, if Congress has not 
given him the full time for consideration allowed by the Consti- 
tution. If the bill fails it is the fault of Congress. In these 
early cases the President made public, and in every instance ex- 
cept the last mentioned he sent to Congress, his reasons for dis- 
approval. That formality is not observed in the modern prac- 
tice of the pocket veto. The President does not sign the bill ; 
he does not give reasons for withholding his approval. He had 
no opportunity to do so before adjournment. Whether the 
spirit of the Constitution would be better observed if he were 
to communicate his objections to Congress at the ensuing ses- 
sion, is a fair question for argument. But the practice, ac- 
quiesced in for many years, has taken the question out of the 
realm of practical politics. 

Van Buren's only veto was a pocket veto of a harmless 
resolution which was submitted to him after the final adjourn- 
ment of Congress, and which was not attested as required by 
the Constitution. Even Tyler, having to consider the legisla- 
tion of a Congress angrily hostile to him, vetoed but eight 
bills — two of them pocket vetoes like those of Jackson. That 
is to say the bills were returned to Congress with objections at 
the session following that when they were passed. To be sure 
the vetoes by Tyler were most important, dealing as they did 
with the tariff, the custody of the public revenues, and such 
matters. Five of his vetoes were based on constitutional objec- 
tions. The record of his successors up to the outbreak of the 
Civil War was as follows : Polk vetoed three bills, two of 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 323 

them for constitutional reasons ; Fillmore, none ; Pierce ten, 
eight for constitutional reasons; 1 Buchanan seven, four for 
constitutional reasons. There is no record of any " pocket " ve- 
toes, in the sense that the President left a bill unsigned and 
said nothing about it. In two instances, declining to sign he 
filed his reasons with the Secretary of State ; in the other cases 
he sent the bill back with his objections at the beginning of the 
next session. 

A summary of the use of the power in the seventy -two years 
from Washington to Lincoln shows a total of forty-seven vetoes, 
of which thirty-one were based on the opinion of the President 
that the proposed measure was unconstitutional. About one 
half of the others were on unimportant matters, involving no 
principle, and the objection was rather to the form than to the 
substance of the bill or resolution returned for reconsideration. 
But the Presidents, on occasion, did not hesitate to take the 
ground that they were entitled to make their judgment as to 
the expediency of a measure a valid " objection " under the 
terms of the Constitution. Tyler claimed that right, in his 
message of September 9, 1841, vetoing the " Fiscal corpora- 
tion" bill. Pierce, in his veto of the French Spoliation Claims 
bill, in February, 1855, entered into an argument on the sub- 
ject : — 

While the Constitution thus confers on the legislative bodies 
the complete ppwer of legislation in all cases, it proceeds, in the 
spirit of justice, to provide for the protection of the responsibility 
of the President. It does not compel him to affix the signature of 
approval to any bill unless it actually have his approbation ; for 
while it requires him to sign if he approve, it, in my judgment, 
imposes upon him the duty of withholding his signature if he do 
not approve. In the execution of his official duty in this respect he 
is not to perform a merely mechanical part, but is to decide and 
act according to conscientious convictions of the rightfulness or 
wrongfulness of the proposed law. In a matter as to which he is 
doubtful in his own mind he may well defer to the majority of the 
two Houses. . . . When, however, he entertains a decisive and fixed 
conclusion, not merely of the unconstitutionality, but of the im- 
propriety, or injustice in other respects of any measure, if he de- 
clares that he approves it he is false to his oath, and he deliberately 
disregards his constitutional obligation. 

1 The most of Polk's and Pierce's vetoes were aimed at bills which violated 
the Democratic doctrine that the Constitution gave no power to use the pub- 
lic money for purposes of "internal improvement." 



324 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

Enough has been said to show that for more than seventy 
years the Presidents acted upon the principles laid down in the 
Federalist that the veto power was to be employed rarely and 
with caution ; that it was granted chiefly for the defence of the 
Constitution against encroachment ; but that it might also be 
exercised to prevent the enactment of bad laws, and of laws 
inspired by partisanship. 

Lincoln vetoed two bills — one because he had already signed 
one accomplishing the same purpose — and one joint resolution 

— a " pocket " veto — because, in correcting an error in legis- 
lation it left other errors in the same act uncorrected. The ad- 
vent of Mr. Johnson marked the beginning of a new era. He, 
and all Presidents since his time, interpreted the clause giving 
the veto power far more liberally than any of their predecessors. 
They have offset their own judgment against that of Congress 
not merely on great questions involving the public welfare, 
and on disputed constitutional questions, but on trivial matters 
whereon their means of information are not greater or better 
than those at the command of Congress, and whereon their in- 
dividual judgment does not appear to be superior to that of the 
average congressman or senator. Two examples, among a great 
number that might be cited, will suffice. President Harrison, 
in 1890, returned a bill authorizing the city of Ogden, Utah 

— Utah was then a Territory — to increase its municipal debt. 
He thought the measure was " unwise," and perhaps it was. 
But is it the duty of a President to busy himself with such 
trumpery matters ? President Cleveland once vetoed a resolu- 
tion providing for the printing of additional copies of a certain 
map of the United States, on the ground that a better map 
would soon be available. The intimate participation of the 
Presidents in legislation in recent times is seen in the follow- 
ing record : President Johnson vetoed 22 bills ; President Grant, 
47; President Hayes, 11; President Arthur, 4; President 
Cleveland, 346, 1 beside 12 pocket vetoes ; President Harrison, 
17 ; President McKinley, 5 ; President Roosevelt, 40. It will 
be observed that Mr. Cleveland in his first term vetoed more 
than six times as many bills as were returned by all the Pres- 
idents from 1789 to 1865, — seventy-six years. 

The foregoing review of the history of the veto power indi- 
cates that there has been a distinct change in the theory and 
practice of Presidents. As at present understood it is much 
1 305 in his first term, — most of them pension bills. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 325 

more than a weapon put in the hands of the Executive to de- 
fend himself against legislative encroachment ; much more than 
a revisory power to prevent violations of the Constitution ; 
much more than a security against laws due to " faction, pre- 
cipitancy, or any impulse unfriendly to the public good." It 
has become a general revisory power, which is applied to all 
the legislation of Congress, whether important or not, whether 
concerning public laws or private and personal interests. Some 
Presidents use the power more frequently and upon more 
trivial matters than others, but they all use it to the fullest 
extent, and upon any matter whatsoever, when so minded. 

The question has been frequently discussed whether the veto 
of the President is a legislative power. Von Hoist says it is 
not, because the Constitution declares that " all legislative 
power herein granted is vested " in Congress. That seems a 
little like begging the question. At any rate it assumes that 
an inconsistency in the Constitution is impossible and unthink- 
able. Is it not reasonable to hold that the veto power as 
Hamilton understood it, and as all the Presidents, not even 
excepting Jackson, understood it until after the Civil War, 
was not a legislative power ; but as understood and practised 
to-day it does make the President in effect a third member of 
the legislative body ? 

That question can best be considered in connection with the 
extension of the President's exercise of power in the third 
general direction. The Constitution, in its general enumeration 
of the functions which it assigns to the President, provides : — 

He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of 
the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such 
measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. 

There was not one word of debate on this clause at any time 
in the Convention of 1787. The Federalist makes no comment 
whatever upon it. Kent merely quotes the clause, without re- 
mark. Story, although he enlarges on the subject, uses color- 
less language : — 

The first part, relative to the President's giving information and 
recommending measures to Congress, is so consonant with the 
structure of the executive departments of the colonial and State 
governments, with the usage and practice of other free govern- 
ments, with the general convenience of Congress, and with a due 



326 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

share of responsibility on the part of the executive, that it may 
well be presumed to be above all real objection. From the nature 
and duties of the executive department he must possess more ex- 
tensive sources of information, as well in regard to domestic as 
foreign affairs, than can belong to Congress. The true working of 
the laws ; the defects in the nature or arrangements of the general 
systems of trade, finance, and justice ; and the military, naval, and 
civil establishments of the Union, are more readily seen and more 
constantly under the view of the executive than they can possibly 
be of any other department. There is great wisdom, therefore, in 
not merely allowing, but in requiring the President to lay before 
Congress all facts and information which may assist their delib- 
erations ; and in enabling him at once to point out the evil and 
to suggest the remedy. He is thus justly made responsible not 
merely for a due administration of the existing systems, but for 
due diligence and examination into the means for improving 
them. 

It is not intended, in a discussion of the extension of the 
President's power under this clause, any more than in a consid- 
eration of the power of removal from office, and of the veto 
power, to suggest that any President has gone a step further 
than is permissible under a strict literal interpretation of the 
Constitution ; but rather to signalize the extension that has 
taken place, and to note its effect ^pon the system of govern- 
ment. As in the other two cases the change has been gradual 
and has not been seriously opposed by Congress. The enlarge- 
ment of the President's power has, in each case, been at the 
expense of Congress. It was an " encroachment," in the 
sense that it was not what the framers of the Constitution in- 
tended when they defined the limits of the three departments ; 
and yet, as being strictly permissible under the language of 
the Constitution, it could not have been successfully resisted 
by Congress. 

As in the former cases we should naturally begin by detail- 
ing the practice of the earliest Presidents. But in order so to 
illustrate fully the change that has taken place it would be 
necessary to make copious extracts from the messages of those 
Presidents. Suffice it here to say that they put the simplest 
and most natural interpretation on the power conferred on them. 
They gave information of the state of the Union and recom- 
mended measures — which they understood to be subjects — 
for the consideration of Congress. One paragraph from a mes- 
sage of James Madison will indicate what is meant. 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 327 

A revision of the militia laws for the purpose of rendering them 
more systematic and better adapting them to emergencies of the 
war, is at this time particularly desirable. 

It must be left to those who are sufficiently interested in 
the evolution of our government, to study comparatively the 
tone and general character of the recommendations by the 
Presidents in the first fifty years of our national history, and 
in the last twenty years. In the earlier messages the attention 
of Congress was called to certain defects in existing laws, or 
to the need of new laws on other subjects, and it was left to 
the wisdom of Congress to frame enactments on those and other 
points. The modern system is to discuss the defects or the 
requirements in great detail, to argue upon the necessary 
remedy, including safeguards and exceptions, and virtually to 
insist that the case shall be met in a way precisely indicated, 
— if not, that a veto will be launched at the bill agreed upon 
by Congress. 

The practice of recommending to Congress measures in a 
definite form — complete schemes of legislation which must 
be passed as indicated by the executive or not passed at all, 
save as may be agreed upon between the executive and the 
legislative departments in minor details, which may be the 
subject of compromise — that practice is supplemented by an- 
other. The President now feels it to be his privilege, nay, 
his duty, to bring pressure to bear upon Congress, that is to 
say upon certain congressmen. He invites them to call upon 
him to discuss the terms of the bills which he has recommended. 
He indicates to them what is and what is not admissible. Cer- 
tain senators and representatives are recognized in the two 
Houses as spokesmen for the President. Others, men of the 
President's political party, who oppose a presidential measure 
as a whole, or certain features of it, are invited to the White 
House, and listen to the President's reasons for urging his 
policy. The President is the sole dispenser of public offices. 
Long custom has made it a rule that senators and members of 
the ruling party shall be consulted, shall even be permitted, 
to suggest the names of proper persons, when officers are to 
be appointed in their State or district. There is not the least 
evidence that any President ever intimated even vaguely that 
the privilege of designating officers would be withdrawn or 
curtailed in the case of any senator or representative who 
might oppose the President on any matter on which he had 



328 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

set his heart. Nor, without evidence, is there any reason to 
suspect that any President ever did so. But that does not 
signify that the fear of losing " patronage " plays no part in 
the campaign which modern Presidents carry on to promote 
the success of their policies. Politicians in office are not the 
boldest of men. A senator taking his seat for the first time is 
not above shaping his course with a view to his election again 
six years later. It is not necessary to threaten a man with the 
loss of patronage if he is so constructed as to fear that he will 
lose it if he sets his will against that of the President. 

The executive has still another weapon. He has the power 
to summon Congress in extraordinary session. He can say — 
of course privately and unofficially — that unless Congress 
shall pass this bill or that, he will call the two Houses to meet 
again. Whether this weapon has ever been used or not can- 
not be asserted with confidence. It has been reported, with 
how much or how little truth is unknown. But the use of it 
is possible. It has been employed more than once by another 
executive — the governor of New York. 

Indeed it would not be difficult to sustain the proposition 
that the extension of executive power and influence which we 
are here considering, was imported into Washington by those 
who had filled the executive chair at Albany. The country saw 
little or none of it before the time of Mr. Cleveland, and it did 
not see very much of it then. Mr. Cleveland carried with him 
to the chief place in the national government the New York 
governor's idea of the veto power and of the proper use of it. 
Instances might be cited, if it was worth while, of his interpo- 
sition to an unusual extent — which signifies neither an un- 
constitutional nor even an improper extent — to secure the 
enactment of legislation which he desired. And the readiness 
of senators and members to heed the wishes of a President even 
when doing so involves political inconsistency, can be seen in 
the votes of avowed free silver men on the bill to repeal the 
Silver-Purchase act, in 1893. What Mr. Cleveland did occa- 
sionally, Mr. Roosevelt did frequently, almost constantly. 
Congress, the men of his own party, were not in favor of many 
of the measures he wished to be passed. It is not too much to 
say that he extorted their consent to many of them, and en- 
deavored persistently but in vain to obtain their consent to the 
rest. He sent an unprecedented number of special messages in 
advocacy of his policies, many of them covering each but a sin- 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 329 

gle subject, in which the nature and form of the legislation 
desired were elaborated as systematically and with as much 
detail as would be employed by a senator in a three-day 
speech. He urged members individually and in groups, who 
were invited to meet him in his office at the White House, to 
support those measures. He gave to the press statements of 
his position on pending legislation. 

The presidential pressure of which the foregoing measures 
are examples has been continued and even extended by his 
successors. Mr. Taft encountered much opposition to his 
legislative programme; but although possessing a personality 
much less pugnacious and strong-willed than Mr. Roosevelt, he 
was able to get from an unwilling or a half-willing Congress 
the most of the measures on that programme. Was it not the 
first occurrence of the kind when Mr. Aldrich announced to 
the Senate, — as though the statement were an argument in 
favor of the pending measure, — " This is the President's bill " ? 
And surely the pressure has never been greater or more openly 
exerted than it has been during the administration now (1916) 
in power. No closer attention was given to certain important 
items in the tariff act of 1913 at either end of the Capitol than 
in the White House. Mr. Wilson did not intend that Con- 
gress should send to him — as was sent to Mr. Cleveland — a 
tariff bill which he might regard as a betrayal of the principles 
of his party. What should be done about the duty, or no duty, 
on wool and sugar was not simply agreed upon between the 
President and the congressional leaders in conference ; it was 
dictated by the President. Let us remember, too, — neither 
in approval nor in criticism of the President's views, — his 
almost dictatorial insistence upon the passage of the ship-pur- 
chase bill and the Philippines bill. 

Does such use of the office constitute the President a third 
branch of the legislative department ? That question is not to 
be answered by saying that the early Presidents recommended 
measures to Congress and vetoed objectionable bills passed by 
Congress, yet that they certainly did not constitute themselves 
a coordinate branch of the legislative department, and in fact 
were not ; and that Presidents now only do more frequently, 
more in detail, and more by the use of personal force and 
official position, as they did. Each branch of the legisla- 
ture — in this case Congress — originates measures, considers 
them clause by clause as to their specific provisions, and passes 



330 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

or rejects them. When the two branches do not agree upon 
details the matter is decided by a committee of conference. In 
a very real sense a President who presses upon Congress meas- 
ures in which he is interested, in the manner of recent Presid- 
ents, exercises every power in legislation which is conferred 
by the Constitution on the two Houses of Congress. He origin- 
ates measures and gives them definite form. It is true they 
can go no further unless one or the other House of Congress 
takes them up. But neither does a bill introduced in the Sen- 
ate or the House of Representatives, and passed by that body, 
get further unless the other branch agrees to it. The White 
House meetings for the discussion of specific provisions and 
amendments correspond to the committees of conference ; and 
finally the President, by his approval or veto, takes action 
which is identical with the passage or rejection of a bill by one 
of the Houses of Congress. If it be said that the President 
does not interpose in all cases, with respect to all the measures 
acted upon by Congress, before both brandies have agreed and 
have sent the bill to him for his approval, it may be replied on 
the other hand that hundreds of House bills are passed by the 
Senate, and hundreds of Senate bills are passed by the House 
of Representatives, in the same perfunctory way that the Pre- 
sident affixes his signature to them after both branches have 
passed them. As a matter of fact, since the veto power has 
been regarded as a power to be employed whenever the Presid- 
ent's judgment of the wisdom or the expediency of a measure 
contravenes that of Congress — this in connection with his in- 
timate participation in the origination and definite construction 
of measures, and also with his public and personal activity in 
the promotion of those measures — the President is a potent 
factor in legislation, and in effect, though not nominally, as 
really a branch of the legislative department as either House 
of Congress. 

That is the chief development of the presidential office. It 
has taken place without opposition, one may even say without 
observation. Opposition, indeed, would have been in vain, for 
there is no suggestion here that any violation of the language 
of the Constitution has been committed in anything that the 
recent Presidents have done. Whether there has been a viola- 
tion of the spirit of the Constitution is another matter ; and on 
that point the present author goes no further than to say that 
the framers of the Constitution seem not to have anticipated 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 331 

the development of the office which we have witnessed, and 
that the Presidents for nearly a hundred years made no move- 
ment toward such an expansion of their office. 

The justification for the change, if it is to be justified, lies 
in the contention that in modern times the executive of the 
State or the nation is placed, in popular estimation, and by the 
popular will, in the position of a leader. He is expected to do 
things, and to get things done. Our legislatures and Congress 
are leaderless, in the sense that there are no leaders possessing 
authority, no leaders whom the rank and file of the party fol- 
low. The party system is by no means the perfect machine it 
is in most countries having a parliamentary government. Just 
as we were beginning to develop a system whereby the Speaker 
was the party leader in the House of Representatives, and 
leadership in the Senate was in the hands of the veterans 
who constituted a "steering committee," there was a revolt 
against both. The power of the Speaker was annulled; and 
first insurgency and then the defeat or death of the Senate 
veterans abolished leadership altogether and introduced in its 
stead the tyranny of the caucus. 

That is not precisely the argument that has been offered to 
justify the assumption of leadership by the executive. Nor has 
any President deemed it necessary or worth while to justify it, 
or even to intimate that he regarded himself as a leader. But 
it would be idle to deny that modern democracies no less than 
those of the ancient world crave leaders. There is no explana- 
tion of the springing up and growth of the " boss " system, or 
of the power which self -chosen bosses exert in politics, which 
does not rest in the last analysis on the willingness, even the 
eagerness of the multitude to follow strong men, and to seek 
for a new leader though he may not be a strong man, when 
the old leader dies or retires. 

The principle upon which the assumption of leadership by 
an elected executive in a republican state, founded on a separa- 
tion of the three departments of government, was explained and 
advocated by the Hon. Charles E. Hughes, later a justice of 
the Supreme Court and now (1916) the Republican candidate 
for President of the United States, in an oration delivered before 
the Phi Beta Kappa of Harvard College, June 30, 1910. 1 Mr. 
Hughes, was the Governor of New York — another governor of 
that State, it will be observed — and was one who had carried 
l Harvard Graduates' Magazine, September, 1910. 



332 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

the theory of leadership by the executive further, perhaps, than 
any of his predecessors. For he had urged his measures upon 
the legislature in definite form, and when his recommendations 
were disregarded had called the legislature back to Albany and, 
strengthened by public sentiment, had practically forced the 
legislature to yield. His argument is here given in full: — 

In considering the trend of our democracy we cannot fail to note 
at the present time the tendency to increase the relative import- 
ance and influence of the executive department, the difficulty of 
maintaining party coherence, and the larger measure of direct con- 
trol exercised by the people over the instrumentalities of govern- 
ment. 

The scope of administration has increased rapidly during the 
past few years, not only with respect to the multiplication of the 
demands traditionally associated with it, but also in the provision 
that has been made to secure adequate supervision of activities 
related to the public interest. This extension of administrative 
burdens and facilities would of itself enhance in public estima- 
tion the importance of the chief administrators in Nation and 
State. 

But the aggrandizement of the Executive is not to be accounted 
for simply in this way. It is rather that out of the conflicts be- 
tween competing interests or districts the Executive emerges as 
the representative of the people as a whole. Within the State, for 
example, each representative in the Legislature is endeavoring to 
obtain something for his own district in order that he may stand 
well at home. He naturally looks at every general question with 
more regard to his political fortunes than with respect to the opin- 
ion or the interest of the State as a whole. It is well, of course, 
that each district should have its interests well represented. But 
in this rivalry of purely local concerns, a proper perspective with 
regard to matters of general policy is often lost. The general sen- 
timent must find a voice, and in the course of our experience the 
people have come to look to the Chief Executive for that voice. 
By his authority to recommend measures which he believes to be 
of general importance, and by his freedom to support his recom- 
mendations with argument and appeal, he commands a position of 
influence which is not embarrassed by district limitations. Having 
this opportunity, he is necessarily under the obligations which it 
imposes, and when there is a preponderant sentiment in favor of 
a measure or policy believed to be just, the people look to the 
Executive to speak in their behalf and to present that measure 
or policy as cogently as he may within the limits of his constitu- 
tional authority. This is the result of the natural demand for lead- 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 333 

ership which the functions of the office afford. It also carries 
with it direct accountability to the people, and in fact is only a 
phase of the tendency toward a greater measure of direct popular 
control. 

The Executive is elected as a candidate of a political party, and 
represents the policies of his party. He is, however, more than a 
party leader. The loyalty of the people, irrespective of party, to- 
ward their government, which he in its chief office so largely per- 
sonifies, tends to establish a relation between the Executive and 
the people at large quite distinct from that which he sustains to 
his party. Here again there come into play the influences resulting 
from the extension of administration and the demand on the part 
of the community for proper standards of administrative conduct. 
There is a wide field of executive action in which partisan ques- 
tions have no place. Good administration is impartial, and with 
respect to it the matters as to which our citizens differ are of small 
account compared to those as to which they agree. In the just and 
honorable conduct of public affairs the Executive finds the oppor- 
tunity, as well as the duty, faithfully to represent the common 
sentiment. 

But assuming that improper methods are not used, the Execu- 
tive is strong in meeting the responsibilities thus assigned to him, 
only as he does in fact represent public opinion. As the people are 
entitled to look to him to lead, he is entitled to look to the people 
for support. Upon public opinion his leadership depends, and in 
fair appeal he finds the strongest instrument at his command. 
Thus, within his constitutional limitations, the influence of the 
Executive broadens and, while wholesome and beneficial results 
may be secured, he enjoys no arbitrary power, for he is constantly 
under the check of public criticism and the common sentiment, 
which he ignores at his peril. 

The theory is easily understood, and Mr. Justice Hughes 
has put it clearly and cogently. But after all is it not the ar- 
gument for government by a "good despot " ? If despots had 
all been good, mankind would never have invented and estab- 
lished republics. Moreover there is in the passage above quoted 
a certain amount of unproved assumption. " The people have 
come to look to the Chief Executive " to represent the general 
sentiment ? Is it not rather that the Chief Executive has been 
the agent in creating the idea that he is their proper leader ; 
and is not that the way it has always been when a nation was 
preparing itself for a dictator ? 

There seems also to be an assumption which experience does 



334 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

not justify in the suggestion that the Chief Executive knows 
by some process of intuition what is the popular sentiment and 
the popular desire, and that, knowing it, he will infallibly en- 
deavor to secure the triumph of that sentiment and the fruition 
of that desire. Have we not had perverse governors and self- 
willed Presidents ? History tells us that Executives have 
often been wofully deceived as to the wishes of their people, 
and that other Executives, strong in their own convictions, 
and confident of their own opinions, have withstood public 
sentiment of whieh they were fully conscious. Nor is it quite 
true that a governor or President setting himself up as a 
leader "is constantly under the check of public criticism and 
the common sentiments which he ignores at his peril." For he 
has been elected for a definite term, and can continue to defy 
public criticism, unless he is moved to follow, as well as to di- 
rect, public opinion in order to win a reelection. 

It can hardly be denied that the aim of every true republican 
government, and of every government by a constitutional 
monarchy, is to avoid giving great power of leadership into the 
hands of one man. That is so obvious that it requires no argu- 
ment and no citation of examples. If it be admitted it follows 
that " the aggrandizement of the Executive " is a departure 
from the universally accepted policy of free governments, upon 
the road that leads toward despotism. It is not — at all events 
— in accordance with the noble principle enunciated in the 
Constitution of Massachusetts : — 

In the government of this commonwealth, the legislative depart- 
ment shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or 
either of them ; the executive shall never exercise the legislative 
and judicial powers, or either of them ; the judicial shall never ex- 
ercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them : to 
the end it may be a government of laws and not of men. 

The development of the presidency into a national leader- 
ship has naturally brought about another change — a change 
which had a beginning before the final evolution we have been 
considering, but has been greatly accentuated in most recent 
times. Prior to the time of President Andrew Johnson it is 
doubtful if any President in office ever made a political har- 
angue to a party or a miscellaneous audience. All the Presi- 
dents, from Washington onward, were accustomed to travel 
over the country and to make patriotic and non-partisan ad- 
dresses. The sentiment that a candidate for the office, who 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 335 

might soon be the President of all parties, should refrain from 
everything of the nature of stump speaking, was also preval- * 
ent, but in process of time was rather weakly held. Mr. Blaine, 
in 1884, was the first prominent candidate who made an exten- 
sive stumping tour. Since then, as has been shown in the pre- 
ceding chapters, it has become the regular and ordinary practice 
of candidates to spend nearly all the time between nomination - 
and election day, in touring the country, addressing great 
audiences in the cities, and showing themselves to throngs of 
admiring supporters from the rear platform of a railway car at 
every stopping-place. In the canvass of 1912, which is not 
discussed in detail there was an intensive modification of the 
custom, for the candidates for party nomination, including a 
President and an ex-President, engaged in " whirlwind " cam- 
paigns in many States, in competition for the favor of the 
National Conventions. 

It results from the situation that has be*n created that a 
President possesses and exercises a power transcending that of 
any hereditary monarch of a constitutional government, at the 
same time that by his direct and intimate association with the 
people — "the common people," he may be the most demo- 
cratic of sovereigns. Among all the unique creations of the Amer- 
ican Constitution there is nothing more remarkable than the 
presidency as it exists in the Twentieth Century. 

Has the presidency reached its ultimate development ? That » 
is a question for the future. But if we can take a lesson from 
history the tentative answer must be in the negative. It is the 
teaching of experience that power always tends to its own in- 
crease, at the expense of a weaker power. It has taken cen- 
turies for the British House of Commons to rise from its feeble 
beginnings to its present supremacy over King and Lords, the 
elder estates of the realm. But it has risen by successive steps 
and has never lost an advantage once gained. The history of 
the speakership of our own House of Representatives is a case 
closely in point. Originally the Speaker was merely a presiding 
officer without special authority of any sort. It was deemed 
unbecoming in him to show any partisan leaning in his action 
in the chair. But when a strong man was made Speaker he as- 
sumed certain powers, and the House did not resent his so doing. 
His successor, who might not be a strong man, claimed and 
exercised all the authority he inherited. So it went on until 
another Speaker, endowed with a capacity for leadership, and 



336 A HISTORY OF THE PRESIDENCY 

•with ambition, came to the chair. Thus the Speaker became 
more and more a party leader and a controlling power in the 
House. Henry Clay was the first to take a long step in that 
direction. The progress was not great but was gradual for 
thirty or forty years, mainly because the speakers were not 
generally men of great force. But consider the development of 
the powers of the Speaker under Colfax, Blaine, Carlisle, Reed, 
and Cannon. It was so great that it produced a revolution. 

So it has been with the presidency. Changed but little in 
the first forty years, it was transformed into a potent force in 
the government by Jackson. None of his successors has yielded 
a particle of power which Jackson claimed and exercised. In 
the foregoing pages the successive steps have been outlined by 
which the Presidents have increased their power and influence 
in the government. In no instance has there been a surrender 
of anything previously gained, or a recurrence to earlier stand- 
ards. President Roosevelt carried his conception of the powers 
and prerogatives of his office to the highest point yet reached. 
Since his retirement from office he has given his view of the 
extent of the power of the Executive in his " Notes for a Pos- 
sible Autobiography," in which he takes the position that all 
powers not granted to any other department of the government 
and not denied to it, may rightfully be assumed and exercised 
by the President. He calls attention to his " insistence upon 
the theory that the executive power was limited only by spe- 
cific restrictions and prohibitions appearing in the Constitution 
or imposed by Congress under its constitutional powers." In 
another form he puts it as his " belief that it was not only his 
right but his duty to do anything that the needs of the nation 
demanded unless such action was forbidden by the Constitu- 
tion or by the laws." It is a long way to that view of the 
President's power from the provision of the Constitution itself 
that all powers not delegated to the United States — and of 
course that includes all powers not granted to any officer of 
the United States — are reserved to the States and the people. 

Mr. Roosevelt's successors have had no opportunity to show 
by their action in concrete cases, as he had in the coal strike and 
the Panama canal, whether they would agree with his theory. 
But Mr. Taft says frankly in his " Presidency " that he re- 
gards it as " unsafe doctrine." Yet although neither of the 
last two Presidents has been called upon to assume any powers 
not directly derivable from the Constitution, both of them 



THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRESIDENCY 337 

have not only made use, as a matter of right, of all the powers 
and all the methods by which President Roosevelt undertook 
to impose his will on the government, but have refined those 
methods to such an extent that by a little further advance in 
the same direction the constitutional initiative of Congress on 
important matters will disappear, and an executive initiative 
will take its place. That will be an introduction not of the 
British system, where the executive is but a committee of 
Parliament, but of a system not unlike that of the German 
Empire. 

The Constitution is still adaptable to the emergencies that 
will arise, and there will still be masterful men at the head of 
affairs. Fortunately there are and will still be wise and far- 
seeing men who will not suffer the people to be led blindfold, 
and who will guard the country from permitting too large a 
share of the government to fall to any man — for in that 
direction lies the danger to American liberty. 



THE END 



APPENDIX 

CONVENTIONS, CANDIDATES, AND PLATFOEMS 
CANVASS OF 1916 

Socialist Labor Party Convention, held at 
New York, April 23 

Candidates 
For President, Arthur Eeimer, of Massachusetts. 
For Vice-President, Caleb Harrison, of Illinois. 

Platform 

The Socialist Labor Party, in national convention assembled, 
reaffirming its previous platform declarations, reasserts the right 
of man to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

We hold that the purpose of government is to secure to every 
citizen the enjoyment of this right ; but taught by experience we 
hold furthermore that such right is illusory to the majority of the 
people, to wit, the working class, under the present system of eco- 
nomic inequality that is essentially destructive of their life, their 
liberty, and their happiness. 

We hold that the true theory of economics is that the means of 
production must be owned, operated, and controlled by the people 
in common. Man cannot exercise his right of life, liberty, and the 
pursuit of happiness without the ownership of the land on, and 
the tool with which to work. Deprived of these, his life, his liberty, 
and his fate fall into the hands of that class which owns these 
essentials for work and production. 

We hold that the existing contradiction between social produc- 
tion and capitalist appropriation — the latter resulting from the 
private ownership of the natural and social opportunities — divides 
the people into two classes : the Capitalist Class and the Working 
Class ; throws society into the convulsions of the Class Struggle ; 
and perverts government in the interests of the Capitalist Class. 

Thus Labor is robbed of the wealth it alone produces, is denied 
the means of self-employment, and by compulsory idleness in 
wage-slavery, is even deprived of the necessaries of life. 

Against such a system the Socialist Labor Party raises the ban- 



340 APPENDIX 

ner of revolt, and demands the unconditional surrender of the 
Capitalist Class. 

In place of such a system the Socialist Labor Party aims to sub- 
stitute a system of social ownership of the means of production, 
industrially administered by the Working Class — the workers to 
assume control and direction as well as operation of their indus- 
trial affairs. 

This solution of necessity requires the organization of the Working 
Class as a class upon revolutionary political and industrial lines. 

We therefore call upon the wage workers to organize themselves 
into a revolutionary political organization under the banner of the 
Socialist Labor Party ; and to organize themselves likewise upon 
the industrial field into a revolutionary industrial union in keep- 
ing with their political aims. 

And we also call upon all other intelligent citizens to place 
themselves squarely upon the ground of Working Class interests, 
and join us in this mighty and noble work of human emancipa- 
tion, so that we may put summary end to the existing barbarous 
class conflict by placing the land and all the means of production, 
transportation, and distribution into the hands of the people as a 
collective body, and substituting the Cooperative Commonwealth 
for the present state of planless production, industrial war, and 
social disorder — a commonwealth in which every worker shall 
have the free exercise and full benefit of his faculties, multiplied 
by all the factors of modern civilization. 



Republican Party Convention, held at Chicago, 
June 7 

Candidates 
For President, Charles Evans Hughes, of New York. 
For Vice-President, Charles Warren Fairbanks, of Indiana. 

Platform 

In 1861 the Republican party stood for the Union. As it stood 
for the Union of States, it now stands for a united people, true to 
American ideals, loyal to American traditions, knowing no alle- 
giance except to the Constitution, to the Government, and to the 
Flag of the United States. We believe in American policies at 
home and abroad. 

We declare that we believe in and will, enforce the protection of 
every American citizen in all the rights secured to him by the 
Constitution, treaties, and the law of nations, at home and abroad, 



APPENDIX 341 

by land and by sea. These rights, which, in violation of the spe- 
cific promise of their party made at Baltimore in 1912, the Demo- 
cratic President and the Democratic Congress have failed to de- 
fend, we will unflinchingly maintain. 

We desire peace, the peace of justice and right, and believe in 
maintaining a straight and honest neutrality between the belliger- 
ents in the great war in Europe. We must perform all our duties 
and insist upon all our rights as neutrals without fear and without 
favor. We believe that peace and neutrality, as well as the dignity 
and influence of the United States, cannot be preserved by shifty 
expedients, by phrase-making, by performances in language, or by 
attitudes ever changing in an effort to secure votes or voters. The 
present Administration has destroyed our influence abroad and 
humiliated us in our own eyes. The Republican party believes 
that a firm, consistent, and courageous foreign policy, always 
maintained by Republican Presidents in accordance with American 
traditions, is the best, as it is the only true, way to preserve our 
peace and restore us to our rightful place among the nations. 
We believe in the pacific settlement of international disputes and 
favor the establishment of a world court for that purpose. 

We deeply sympathize with the fifteen million people of Mexico 
who, for three years have seen their country devastated, their 
homes destroyed, their fellow citizens murdered, and their women 
outraged, by armed bands of desperadoes led by self-seeking, con- 
scienceless agitators who, when temporarily successful in any lo- 
cality, have neither sought nor been able to restore order or estab- 
lish and maintain peace. 

We express our horror and indignation at the outrages which 
have been and are being perpetrated by bandits upon American 
men and women who were or are in Mexico by invitation of the 
laws and of the Government of that country, and whose rights to 
security of person and property are guaranteed by solemn treaty 
obligations. We denounce the indefensible methods of interfer- 
ence employed by this Administration in the internal affairs of 
Mexico and refer with shame to its failure to discharge the duty 
of this country as next friend to Mexico, its duty to other Powers, 
who have relied upon us as such friend, and its duty to our citi- 
zens in Mexico, in permitting the continuance of such conditions, 
first, by failure to act promptly and firmly, and second, by lending 
its influence to the continuation of such conditions through recog- 
nition of one of the factions responsible for these outrages. 

We pledge our aid in restoring order and maintaining peace in 
Mexico. We promise to our citizens on and near our border, and 
to those in Mexico, wherever they may be found, adequate and 
absolute protection in their lives, liberty, and property. 



342 APPENDIX 

We reaffirm our approval of the Monroe Doctrine, and declare 
its maintenance to be a policy of this country essential to its pres- 
ent and future peace and safety and to the achievement of its 
manifest destiny. 

We favor the continuance of Republican policies, which will re- 
sult in drawing more and more closely the commercial, financial, 
and social relations between this country and the countries of Latin 
America. 

We renew our allegiance to the Philippine policy inaugurated 
by McKinley, approved by Congress, and consistently carried out 
by Roosevelt and Taft. Even in this short time it has enormously 
improved the material and social conditions of the islands, given 
the Philippine people a constantly increasing participation in their 
Government, and if persisted in will bring still greater benefits in 
the future. 

We accepted the responsibility of the islands as a duty to civil- 
ization and the Filipino people. To leave with our task half done 
would break our pledges, injure our prestige among nations, and 
imperil what has already been accomplished. 

We condemn the Democratic Administration for its attempt to 
abandon the Philippines, which was prevented only by the vigor- 
ous opposition of Republican members of Congress, aided by a few 
patriotic Democrats. 

We reiterate our unqualified approval of the action taken in De- 
cember, 1911, by the President and Congress to secure with Russia, 
as with other countries, a treaty that will recognize the absolute 
right of expatriation and prevent all discrimination of whatever 
kind between American citizens, whether native-born or alien, and 
regardless of race, religion, or previous political allegiance. We re- 
new the pledge to observe this principle and to maintain the right 
of asylum, which is neither to be surrendered nor restricted, and 
we unite in the cherished hope that the war which is now deso- 
lating the world may speedily end, with a complete and lasting 
restoration of brotherhood among the nations of the earth and the 
assurance of full equal rights, civil and religious, to all men in 
every land. 

In order to maintain our peace and make certain the security of 
our people within our own borders, the country must have not only 
adequate but thorough and complete national defence ready for 
any emergency. We must have a sufficient and efficient regular 
army, and a provision for ample reserves, already drilled and disci- 
plined, who can be called at once to the colors when the hour of 
danger comes. 

We must have a navy so strong and so well proportioned and 
equipped, so thoroughly ready and prepared, that no enemy can 



APPENDIX 343 

gain command of the sea and effect a landing in force on either 
our western or our eastern coast. To secure these results we must 
have a coherent, continuous policy of national defence, which even 
in these perilous days the Democratic party has utterly failed to 
develop, but which we promise to give to the country. 

The Republican party stands now, as always, in the fullest sense 
for the policy of tariff protection to American industries and 
American labor and does not regard an anti-dumping provision as 
an adequate substitute. Such protection should be reasonable in 
amount, but sufficient to protect adequately American industry and 
American labor and be so adjusted as to prevent undue exactions by 
monopolies or trusts. It should, moreover, give special attention to 
securing the industrial independence of the United States, as in 
the case of dye-stuffs. 

Through wise tariff and industrial legislation our industries can 
be so organized that they will become not only a commercial bul- 
wark but a powerful aid to national defence. 

The Underwood Tariff Act is a complete failure in every respect. 
Under its administration imports have enormously increased in 
spite of the fact that the intercourse with foreign countries has 
been largely cut off by reason of the war, while the revenues of 
which we stand in such dire need have been greatly reduced. Under 
normal conditions which prevailed prior to the war, it was clearly 
demonstrated that this act deprived the American producer and 
the American wage-earner of that protection which entitled them 
to meet their foreign competitors, and but for the adventitious 
conditions created by the war, would long since have paralyzed all 
forms of American industry and deprived American labor of its 
just reward. 

It has not in the least reduced the cost of living, which has con- 
stantly advanced from the date of its enactment. The welfare of 
our people demands its repeal and the substitution of a measure 
which in peace as well as in war will produce ample revenue and 
give reasonable protection to all forms of American production in 
mine, forest, field, and factory. 

We favor the creation of a tariff commission with complete 
power to gather and compile information for the use of Congress 
in all matters relating to the tariff. 

The Republican party has long believed in the rigid supervision 
and strict regulation of the transportation and great corporations 
of the country. It has put its creed into its deeds and all really 
effective laws regulating the railroads and the great industrial cor- 
porations are the work of Republican Congresses and Presidents. 
For this policy of regulation and supervision the Democrats, in 
a stumbling and piecemeal way, are undertaking to involve the 



344 APPENDIX 

Government in business which should be left within the sphere of 
private enterprise and in direct competition with its own citizens, 
a policy which is sure to result in waste, great expense to the tax- 
payer and in an inferior product. 

The Republican party firmly believes that all who violate the 
laws in regulation of business should be individually punished. 
But prosecution is very different from persecution, and business 
success, no matter how honestly attained, is apparently regarded 
by the Democratic party as in itself a crime. Such doctrines and 
beliefs choke enterprise and stifle prosperity. The Republican 
party believes in encouraging American business, as it believes in 
and will seek to advance all American interests. 

We favor an effective system of rural credits as opposed to the 
ineffective law proposed by the present Democratic Administration. 

We favor the extension of the rural free delivery system and 
condemn the Democratic Administration for curtailing and crip- 
pling it. 

In view of the policies adopted by all the maritime nations to 
encourage their shipping interests, and in order to enable us to 
compete with them for the ocean-carrying trade, we favor the pay- 
ment to ships engaged in the foreign trade of liberal compensation 
for services actually rendered in carrying the mails, and such fur- 
ther legislation as will build up an adequate American merchant 
marine and give us ships which may be requisitioned by the Gov- 
ernment in time of national emergency. 

We are utterly opposed to the Government ownership of vessels, 
as proposed by the Democratic party, because Government-owned 
ships, while effectively preventing the development of the Ameri- 
can merchant marine by private capital, will be entirely unable to 
provide for the vast volume of American freights, and will leave us 
more helpless than ever in the hard grip of foreign syndicates. 

Interstate and intrastate transportation have become so inter- 
woven that the attempt to apply two and often several sets of laws 
to its regulation has produced conflicts of authority, embarrass- 
ment in operation and inconvenience and expense to the public. 

The entire transportation system of the country has become 
essentially national. We therefore favor such action by legislation, 
or, if necessary, through an amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States, as will result in placing it under exclusive federal 
control. 

The increasing cost of the National Government and the need 
for the greatest economy of its resources in order to meet the grow- 
ing demands of the people for Government service call for the 
severest condemnation of the wasteful appropriations of this Demo- 
cratic Administration , of its shameless raids on the Treasury, and 



APPENDIX 345 

of its opposition to and rejection of President Taft's oft-repeated 
proposals and earnest efforts to secnre economy and efficiency 
through the establishment of a simple, businesslike budget system 
to which we pledge our support and which we hold to be necessary 
to effect a real reform in the administration of national finances. 

We believe in a careful husbandry of all the natural resources 
of the nation — a husbandry which means development without 
waste ; use without abuse. 

The Civil Service Law has always been sustained by the Repub- 
lican party and we renew our repeated declaration that it shall be 
thoroughly and honestly enforced and extended wherever practi- 
cable. The Democratic party has created since March 4, 1913, 
thirty thousand offices outside of the Civil Service Law at an an- 
nual cost of forty-four million dollars to the taxpayers of the 
country. 

We condemn the gross abuse and the misuse of the law by the 
present Democratic Administration and pledge ourselves to a re- 
organization along lines of efficiency and economy. 

Reaffirming the attitude long maintained by the Republican 
party, we hold that officials appointed to administer the govern- 
ment of any territory should be bona fde residents of the territory 
in which their duties are to be performed. 

We pledge the Republican party to the faithful enforcement of 
all federal laws passed for the protection of labor. We favor voca- 
tional education, the enactment and rigid enforcement of a federal 
child labor law ; the enactment of a generous and comprehensive 
workmen's compensation law, within the commerce power of Con- 
gress, and an accident compensation law, covering all Government 
employees. We favor the collection and collation, under the direc- 
tion of the Department of Labor, of complete data relating to in- 
dustrial hazards for the information of Congress, to the end that 
such legislation may be adopted as may be calculated to secure the 
safety, conservation, and protection of labor from the dangers inci- 
dent to industry and transportation. 

The Republican party, reaffirming its faith in government of the 
people, by the people, for the people, as a measure of justice to one 
half the adult people of this country, favors the extension of the 
suffrage to women, but recognizes the right of each State to settle 
this question for itself. 

Such are our principles, such are our purposes and policies. We 
close as we began. The times are dangerous and the future is 
fraught with peril. The great issues of the day have been confused 
by words and phrases. The American spirit, which made the 
country and saved the Union, has been forgotten by those charged 
with the responsibility of power. We appeal to all Americans, 



346 APPENDIX 

whether naturalized or native-born, to prove to the world that we 
are Americans in thought and deed, with one loyalty, one hope, 
one aspiration. We call on all Americans to be true to the spirit of 
America, to the great traditions of their common country, and 
above all things, to keep the faith. 



Progressive Party Convention, held at Chicago, 
June 7 

Candidates 
For President, Theodore Roosevelt, of New York. 
For Vice-President, John M. Parker, of Louisiana. 

(Mr. Roosevelt declined the nomination, and the National Com- 
mittee thereupon " endorsed " the nominee of the Republicans, 
Mr. Hughes. Mr. Parker did not decline.) 

Platform 

This is the year of decision for the nation's future. As we now 
decide, so we shall go forward in righteousness and power, or back- 
ward in degradation and weakness. 

Of necessity we deal now with the foundations of our national 
life. We are facing elemental facts of force, of right and wrong, 
of extreme national peril. Our present choice of path will be irrev- 
ocable. The tradition of isolation has been ended. The United 
States is now part of a world-system of civilization. We stand or 
fall as we prepare now to take our part in peace or war and hold 
our own therein. 

As members of an international community, we are subject to 
certain basic duties : — 

To secure the rights and equal treatment of our citizens, native 
or naturalized, on land and sea, without regard to race, creed, or 
nativity ; 

To guard the honor and uphold the just influence of our nation ; 

To maintain the integrity of international law. 

These are the corner-stones of civilization. We must be strong 
to defend them. 

The present war shows that it is the supreme duty of civiliza- 
tion to create conditions which will make peace permanent. Our 
country must be able and ready to take its part in that work. The 
peace which we desire for our country is not the peace of submis- 
sion and cowardice, but the peace of justice. War and its evils 



APPENDIX 347 

will not be done away with by suffering injustice to ourselves or 
others, nor by pledging ourselves to drastic action for interna- 
tional right if we do not prepare the forces which would sustain 
such action. We can perform our rightful part in promoting per- 
manent international peace only by a willingness and a prepared 
ability to defend our own rights and the rights of other nations. 

We earnestly desire to keep the peace, but there are higher 
things which we must keep if we would keep the faith as Wash- 
ington and Lincoln kept it. Peace at the price of submission and 
cowardice is not desirable, nor is it the peace of justice which 
alone would make it permanent. Supine submission to the inva- 
sion of our rights or indifference to the wrongs of weaker nations 
will not long maintain peace, nor will mere threat of action en- 
force our rights under international law. There must be an unfal- 
tering determination and a personal ability to defend our rights 
and to fulfil our international obligations. In such a readiness lies 
the sure safeguard of both national honor and continued peace. 
Failure to deal firmly and promptly with the menace of Mexi- 
can disorders has brought conditions worse than warfare, and has 
weakened our national self-respect. Every resource of Government 
should forthwith be used to end those conditions, and protect from 
outrage the lives, honor, and property of American men and 
women in Mexico. 

Whatever our country can legitimately do to attain peace for 
war-stricken Europe and to aid in the procurement of equal rights 
without discrimination because of race or creed to all men in all~-~-^ 
lands should be done. 

Adequate provision for the common defence has become the task 
of foremost national concern. 

Beneath the structure of military and economic strength there 
must be a unified spirit of this cosmopolitan people, a deep loyalty 
and undivided allegiance to America, the land which has welcomed 
us and our immigrant forefathers. Back of any adequate national 
preparedness in arms or in industry must remain the democratic 
soul of an undivided people, determined to keep America's great 
heritage and traditions unfalteringly in first place. American prob- 
lems must be faced and solved, and solely in the light of American 
ideals. American political action must be taken in the service of 
American ends. Unwavering patriotism and unfaltering fidelity to 
America is the only spirit which should animate our citizens. If 
in this melting-pot of a hundred nations the children of any fail 
to find our common destiny worthy of common devotion and de- 
fence we shall sustain irreparable loss of national character. 

In this spirit of Americanism, action must be taken for the com- 
mon defence. 



348 APPENDIX 

We must be ready, in spirit, arms, and industry. Preparation in 
arms requires : — 

A navy restored to at least second rank in battle efficiency ; 

A regular army of 250,000 men, fully armed and trained, as a 
first line of land defence ; 

A system of military training adequate to organize with prompt- 
ness, behind that first line of the army and navy, a citizen soldiery, 
supplied, armed, and controlled by the National Government. 

In our democracy every male citizen is charged with the duty of 
defending his country. This duty is not new. It has existed from 
the foundation of the Government. Under modern conditions, it 
cannot be performed without military training ; service without 
training means slaughter and disaster. As the nation has always 
recognized and exercised the right to enforce compulsory military 
service in time of war, so should there be universal military train- 
ing for that service during times of peace. 

We believe in preparedness for defence, but never for aggression. 
We must not sacrifice the lives of men for the glory or gain of 
military conquest. And we believe that the women of the country, 
who share with the men the burdens of Government in times of 
peace and make equal sacrifice in time of war, should be given 
the full political right of suffrage either by state or federal 
action. 

Arms alone cannot maintain a nation. Of far greater permanent 
importance must stand a national industry efficient for the general 
welfare, a prosperity justly distributed, a national life organized 
in all points for national ends. Four years ago this party was born 
of a nation's awakened sense of these fundamental truths. In the 
platform then adopted we set forth our position on public ques- 
tions. We here reaffirm the declarations there made on national 
issues. 

A nation to survive must stand for the principles of social and in- 
dustrial justice. We have no right to expect continued loyalty from 
an oppressed class. We must remove the artificial causes of the 
high cost of living ; prevent the exploitation of men, women, and 
children in industry by extension of the Workmen's Compensation 
Law to the full limit permitted under the Constitution, and by 
a thoroughgoing child labor law ; protect the wage-earner, and by 
a properly regulated system of rural credits encourage the former 
and give to the landless man opportunity to acquire land. A coun- 
try must be worth living in to be worth fighting for. 

To make possible social justice, to maintain our position in peace 
and war, we must insure business and industrial prosperity. This 
can be done — 

By a regulation of industry aimed at promoting its growth and 



APPENDIX 349 

prosperity, and a just distribution of its returns and a healthy ex- 
pansion of foreign trade ; 

By a conservation and development of our national resources for 
the good of all ; 

By the reestablishment of our merchant marine; 

By the development of a system of interstate national highways ; 

By making a new standard of governmental efficiency through 
a complete civil service system, a national budget, and the destruc- 
tion of "pork barrel " legislation. 

By the creation of a permanent expert tariff commission, with 
a view of intelligently and scientifically adjusting the tariff, so as 
to build up, rather than destroy, American industry. 

The protective system is essential to our national prosperity. 
Tremendous new pressures will be thrown upon our industries 
after the war by the highly mobilized production of Europe. At 
all times conditions of competition must be equalized between our 
own and foreign countries. We can only get the protection we 
need through the use of exact and complete knowledge, unaffected 
by prejudice or politics. We can secure that knowledge at all times 
and when needed only through such a commission. 

The industrial issues are chiefly national. The present and cer- 
tain future make it imperative that the regulation and promotion 
of industry, and especially of transportation and foreign trade, be 
national, not local. Only federal power can work justice to capital 
and labor throughout the nation. Only national authority can 
mobilize industry for defence as the nation's need demands it. 

We have set forth in this platform plain essentials of national 
existence. They are not new in principle. Most men agree with 
them. Any man may propose them. The urgent and immediate 
need is for their performance. We have had ample experience 
with the promiser ; with words and the bitter taste of words re- 
tracted. We must choose a man, who, not alone by words, but by past 
deeds, gives guaranty that he can and will make these things good. 
The issue is one of men. In the midst of world-changes unparal- 
leled in history we cannot forecast the problems which will con- 
front our Government during the war and at its end. We therefore 
need as President a leader who knows the nations, a man who 
acts. If we continue longer to stand for words as above deeds, for 
fancies as above facts, we shall receive and merit the fate that 
surely awaits the man or people who do not face the truth. 

W"e will meet and work with any man or party who sees the 
nation's need and puts forward a leader fit to meet it. We will 
accept no less, in plan or in the man, and we solemnly charge upon 
any who place partisan politics above country the responsibility 
for a nation's future sacrificed to self-interest and spoils. 



350 APPENDIX 

Democratic Party Convention, held at St. Louis, 
June 13 

Candidates 
For President, Woodrow Wilson, of New Jersey. 
For Vice-President, Thomas E. Marshall, of Indiana. 

Platform 

The Democratic party in annual convention assembled adopts 
the following declaration, to the end that the people of the United 
States may both realize the achievements wrought by four years 
of Democratic Administration and be apprised of the policies to 
which the party is committed for the further conduct of national 
affairs. 

We endorse the Administration of Woodrow Wilson. It speaks 
for itself. It is the best exposition of sound Democratic policy at 
home and abroad. 

We challenge comparison of our record, our keeping of pledges, 
and our constructive legislation, with those of any party of any time. 

We found our country hampered by special privilege, a vicious 
tariff, obsolete banking laws, and an inelastic currency. Our for- 
eign affairs were dominated by commercial interests for their self- 
ish ends. The Republican party, despite repeated pledges, was 
impotent to correct abuses which it had fostered. Under our Ad- 
ministration, under a leadership which has never faltered, these 
abuses have been corrected and our people have been freed there- 
from. 

Our archaic banking and currency system, prolific of panic and 
disaster under Republican administrations, — long the refuge of 
the money trust, — has been supplanted by the Federal Reserve 
Act, a true democracy of credit under Government control, already 
proved a financial bulwark in a world-crisis, mobilizing our re- 
sources, placing abundant credit at the disposal of legitimate in- 
dustry, and making a currency panic impossible. 

We have created a Federal Trade Commission to accommodate 
the perplexing questions arising under the anti-trust laws, so that 
monopoly may be strangled at its birth and legitimate industry 
encouraged. Fair competition in business is now assured. 

We have effected an adjustment of the tariff, adequate for reve- 
nue under peace conditions, and fair to the consumer and to the 
producer. We have adjusted the burdens of taxation so that swol- 
len incomes bear their equitable share. Our revenues have been 
sufficient in times of wprld stress. 



APPENDIX 351 

We have lifted human labor from the category of commodities 
and have secured to the workingman the right of voluntary associ- 
ation for his protection and welfare. We have protected the rights 
of the laborer against the unwarranted issuance of writs of injunc- 
tion, and have guaranteed to him the right of trial by jury in cases 
of alleged contempt committed outside the presence of the court. 

We have advanced the parcel post to genuine efficiency, enlarged 
the postal savings system, added ten thousand rural delivery routes 
and extensions, thus reaching two and one half millions additional 
people, improved the postal service in every branch, and, for the 
first time in our history, placed the Post-Office system on a self- 
supporting basis, with actual surplus in 1913, 1914, and 1916. 

The reforms which were most obviously needed to clear away 
privilege, prevent unfair discrimination, and release the energies 
of men of all ranks and advantages, have been effected by recent 
legislation. We must now remove, so far as possible, every remain- 
ing element of unrest and uncertainty from the path of the busi- 
ness men of America, and secure for them a continued period of 
quiet, assured, and confident prosperity. 

We reaffirm our belief in the doctrine of a tariff for the purpose 
of providing sufficient revenue for the operation of the Govern- 
ment economically administered, and unreservedly endorse the 
Underwood Tariff Law as truly exemplifying that doctrine. We 
recognize that tariff rates are necessarily subject to change to meet 
changing conditions in the world's productions and trade. The 
events of the last two years have brought about many momen- 
tous changes. In some respects their effects are yet conjectural 
and wait to be disclosed, particularly in regard to our foreign 
trade. Two years of a war which has directly involved most of 
the chief industrial nations of the world, and which has indirectly 
affected the life and industry of all nations, are bringing about 
economic changes more varied and far-reaching than the world 
has ever before experienced. In order to ascertain just what those 
changes may be, the Democratic Congress is providing for a non- 
partisan tariff commission to make impartial and thorough study 
of every economic fact that may throw light either upon our past 
or upon our future fiscal policy, with regard to the imposition of 
taxes on imports, or with regard to the changing and changed con- 
ditions under which our trade is carried on. We cordially endorse 
this timely proposal and declare ourselves in sympathy with the 
principle and purpose of shaping legislation within that field in 
accordance with clearly established facts rather than in accord- 
ance with the demands of selfish interests, or upon information 
.provided largely, if not exclusively, by them. 

Immediate provision should be made for the development of 



352 APPENDIX 

the carrying trade of the United States. Our foreign commerce 
has in the past been subject to many unnecessary and vexatious 
obstacles in the way of legislation of Republican Congresses. 
Until the recent Democratic tariff legislation it was hampered by 
unreasonable burdens of taxation. Until the recent banking legis- 
lation, it had at its disposal few of the necessary instrumentalities 
of international credit and exchange. Until the formulation of 
the pending act to promote the construction of a merchant marine, 
it lacked even the prospect of adequate carriage by sea. We heart- 
ily endorse the purposes and policy of the pending shipping bill, 
and favor all such additional measures of constructive or remedial 
legislation as may be necessary to restore our flag to the seas and 
to provide further facilities for our foreign commerce, particularly 
such laws as may be made to remove unfair conditions of competi- 
tion in the dealings of American merchants and producers with 
competitors in foreign markets. 

The part that the United States will play in the new day of inter- 
national relationships which is now upon us will depend upon our 
preparation and our character. The Democratic party, therefore, 
recognizes the assertion and triumphant demonstration of the indi- 
visibility and coherent strength of the nation as the supreme issue 
of this day in which the whole world faces the crisis of manifold 
change. It summons all men, of whatever origin or creed, who 
would count themselves Americans to join in making clear to all 
the world the unity and consequent power of America. 

This is an issue of patriotism. To taint it with partisanship 
would be to defile it. In this day of test, America must show itself, 
not a nation of partisans, but a nation of patriots. There is gath- 
ered here in America the best of the blood, the industry, and the 
genius of the whole world, the elements of a great race and a mag- 
nificent society to be melted into a mighty and splendid nation. 

Whoever, actuated by the purpose to promote the interest of a 
foreign power, in disregard of our own country's welfare or to in- 
jure this Government in its foreign relations or cripple or destroy 
its industries at home, and whoever by arousing prejudices of a 
racial, religious, or other nature creates discord and strife among 
our people so as to obstruct the wholesome process of unification, is 
faithless to the trust which the privileges of citizenship repose in 
him and disloyal to his country. 

We therefore condemn as subversive of this nation's unity and 
integrity, and as destructive of its welfare, the activities and de- 
signs of every group or organization, political or otherwise, that 
has for its object the advancement of the interest of a foreign 
power, whether such object is promoted by intimidating the Gov- 
ernment, a political party, or representatives of the people, or which 



APPENDIX 353 

is calculated and tends to divide our people into antagonistic 
groups, and thus to destroy that complete agreement and solidarity 
of the people and that unity of sentiment and national purpose so 
essential to the perpetuity of the nation and its free institutions. 

We condemn all alliances and combinations of individuals in 
this country, of whatever nationality or descent, who agree and 
conspire together for the purpose of embarrassing or weakening 
our Government or of improperly influencing or coercing our pub- 
lic representatives in dealing or negotiating with any foreign power. 
We charge that such conspiracies exist and have been instigated 
for the purpose of advancing the interests of foreign countries to 
the prejudice and detriment of our own country. We condemn any 
political party which, in view of the activity of such conspirators, 
surrenders its integrity or modifies its policy. 

Along with the proof of our character as a nation must go the 
proof of our power to play trie part that legitimately belongs to us. 
The people of the United States love peace. They respect the 
rights and covet the friendship of all other nations. They desire 
neither any additional territory nor any advantage which cannot 
peacefully be gained by their skill, their industry, or their enter- 
prise ; but they insist upon having absolute freedom of national 
life and policy and feel that they owe it to themselves and to the 
role of spirited independence which it is their sole ambition to play 
that they should render themselves secure against the hazard of 
interference from any quarter, and should be able to protect their 
rights upon the seas or in any part of the world. We therefore 
favor the maintenance of an army fully adequate to the require- 
ments of order, of safety, and of the protection of the nation's 
rights, the fullest development of modern methods of seacoast 
defence, and the maintenance of an adequate reserve of citizens 
trained to arms and prepared to safeguard the people and territory 
of the United States against any danger of hostile action which 
may unexpectedly arise ; and a fixed policy for the continuous de- 
velopment of a navy worthy to support the great naval traditions 
of the United States and fully equal to the international tasks which 
the United States hopes and expects to take a part in performing. 
The plans and enactments of the present Congress afford substan- 
tial proof of our purpose in this exigent matter. 

The Democratic Administration has throughout the present war 
scrupulously and successfully held to the old paths of neutrality 
and of peaceful pursuit of the legitimate objects of our national 
life, which statesmen of all parties and creeds have prescribed for 
themselves in America since the beginning of our history. But the 
circumstances of the last two years have revealed necessities of in- 
ternational action which no former generation can have foreseen. 



354 APPENDIX 

We hold that it is the duty of the United States to use its power, 
not only to make itself safe at home, but also to make secure its 
just interests throughout the world, and both for this end and in 
the interest of humanity to assist the world in securing settled 
peace and justice. We believe that every people has the right to 
choose the sovereignty under which it shall live ; that the small 
States of the world have a right to enjoy from other nations the 
same respect for their sovereignty and for their territorial integ- 
rity that great and powerful nations expect and insist upon ; and 
that the world has a right to be free from every disturbance of its 
peace that has its origin in aggression or disregard of the rights 
of peoples and nations ; and we believe that the time has come 
when it is the duty of the United States to join the other nations 
of the world in any feasible association that will effectively serve 
these principles, to maintain inviolate the complete security of the 
highway of the seas for the common and unhindered use of all 
nations. 

The present Administration has consistently sought to act upon 
and realize, in its conduct of the foreign affairs of the nation, the 
principle that should be the object of any association of the na- 
tions formed to secure the peace of the world and the maintenance 
of national and individual rights. It has followed the highest 
American traditions. It has preferred respect for the fundamental 
rights of smaller States, even to property interests, and has secured 
the friendship of the people of these States for the United States 
by refusing to make a more material interest an excuse for the 
assertion of our superior power against the dignity of their sover- 
eign independence. It has regarded the lives of its citizens and the 
claims of humanity as of greater moment than material rights, 
and peace as the best basis for the just settlement of commercial 
claims. It has made the honor and ideals of the United States its 
standard alike in negotiation and action. 

We recognize now, as we have always recognized, a definite and 
common interest between the United States with the other peo- 
ples and republics of the Western Hemisphere in all matters of 
national independence and free political development. We favor 
the establishment and maintenance of the closest relations of am- 
ity and mutual helpfulness between the United States and the 
other republics of the American continents for the support of 
peace and the promotion of a common prosperity. To that end we 
favor all measures which may be necessary to facilitate intimate 
intercourse and promote commerce between the United States and 
her neighbors to the south of us, and such international under- 
standings as may be practicable and suitable to accomplish these 
ends. 



APPENDIX 355 

We commend the action of the Democratic Administration in 
holding the Pan-American financial conference at Washington in 
May, 1915, and organizing the International High Commission, 
which represented the United States in the recent meeting of rep- 
resentatives of the Latin American Republics at Buenos Aires, 
April, 1916, which have so greatly promoted the friendly relations 
between the people of the Western Hemisphere. 

The Monroe Doctrine is reasserted as a principle of Democratic 
faith. That doctrine guarantees the independent republics of the 
two Americas against aggression from another continent. It im- 
plies, as well, the most scrupulous regard upon our part for the 
sovereignty of each of them. The want of a stable, responsible 
Government in Mexico, capable of repressing and punishing ma- 
rauders and bandit bands, who have not only taken the lives and 
seized and destroyed the property of American citizens in that 
country, but have insolently invaded our soil, made war upon and 
murdered our people thereon, has rendered it necessary tempora- 
rily to occupy, by our armed forces, a portion of the territory of 
that friendly State. Until, by the restoration of law and order 
therein, a repetition of such incursions is improbable, the neces- 
sity for their remaining will continue. 

Intervention, implying as it does, military subjugation, is revolt- 
ing to the people of the United States, notwithstanding the prov- 
ocation to that course has been great and should be resorted to, 
if at all, only as a last resort. The stubborn resistance of the Pres- 
ident and his advisers to every demand and suggestion to enter 
upon it, is creditable alike to them and to the people in whose 
name he speaks. 

For the safeguarding and quickening of the life of our own 
people, we favor the conservation and development of the natural 
resources of the country through a policy which shall be positive 
rather than negative — a policy which shall not withhold such re- 
sources from development, but which, while permitting and en- 
couraging their use, shall prevent both waste and monopoly in 
their exploitation, and we earnestly favor the passage of acts 
which will accomplish these objects and we reaffirm the declara- 
tion of the platform of 1912 on this subject. 

The policy of reclaiming our arid lands should be steadily ad- 
hered to. 

We favor the vigorous prosecution of investigations and plans to 
render agriculture more profitable and country life more health- 
ful, comfortable, and attractive, and we believe that this should be 
a dominant aim of the nation as well as of the States. With all 
its recent improvement, farming still lags behind other occupa- 
tions in development as a business, and the advantages of an 



356 APPENDIX 

advancing civilization have not accrued to rural communities in a 
fair proportion. Much has been accomplished in this field under 
the present Administration — far more than under any previous 
administration. In the Federal Reserve Act of the last Congress, 
and the Rural Credits Act of the present Congress, the machinery 
has been created which will make credit available to the farmer 
constantly and readily, and he has at last been put upon a footing 
of equality with the merchant and the manufacturer in securing 
the capital necessary to carry on his enterprises. Grades and stand- 
ards necessary to the intelligent and successful conduct of the 
business of agriculture have also been established, or are in the 
course of establishment by law. The long-needed Cotton Futures 
Act, passed by the Sixty-Third Congress, has now been in success- 
ful operation for nearly two years. A Grain Grades Bill, long 
needed, and a permissive Warehouse Bill, intended to provide 
better storage facilities, and to enable the farmer to obtain cer- 
tificates upon which he may secure advances of money, have 
been passed by the House of Representatives, have been favorably 
reported to the Senate, and will probably become law during 
the present session of the Congress. Both houses have passed a 
good-roads measure, which will be of far-reaching benefit to all 
agricultural communities. Above all, the most extraordinary and 
significant progress has been made, under the direction of the 
Department of Agriculture, in extending and perfecting practical 
farm demonstration work which is so rapidly substituting scientific 
for empirical farming. But it is also necessary that rural activities 
should be better directed through cooperation and organization, 
that unfair methods of competition should be eliminated, and the 
conditions requisite for the just, orderly, and economical market- 
ing of farm products created. We approve the Democratic Admin- 
istration for having emphatically directed attention for the first 
time to the essential interests of agriculture involved in farm mar- 
keting and finance, for creating the Office of Markets and Rural 
Organization in connection with the Department of Agriculture, 
and for extending the cooperative machinery necessary for con- 
veying information to farmers by means of demonstrations. We 
favor continued liberal provision, not only for the benefit of produc- 
tion, but also for the study and solution of problems of farm mar- 
keting and finance and for the extension of existing agencies for 
improving country life. 

The happiness, comfort, and prosperity of rural life and the de- 
velopment of the city are alike conserved by the construction of 
public highways. We, therefore, favor national aid in the con- 
struction of post-roads and roads for like purposes. 

We hold that the life, health, and strength of the men, women, 



APPENDIX 357 

and children of the nation are its greatest asset and that in the 
conservation of these the Federal Government, wherever it acts as 
the employer of labor, should, both on its own account and as an 
example, put into effect the following principles of just employ- 
ment: — 

1. A living wage for all employees. 

2. A working day not to exceed eight hours, with one day of 
rest in seven. 

3. The adoption of safety appliances and the establishment of 
thoroughly sanitary conditions of labor. 

4. Adequate compensation for industrial accidents. 

5. The standards of the "Uniform Child Labor Law," wherever 
minors are employed. 

6. Such provisions for decency, comfort and health in the em- 
ployment of women as should be accorded the mothers of the race. 

7. An equitable retirement law providing for the retirement of 
superannuated and disabled employees of the civil service, to the 
end that a higher standard of efficiency may be maintained. 

We believe also that the adoption of similar principles should 
be urged and applied in the legislation of the States with regard to 
labor within their borders, and that through every possible agency 
the life and health of the people of the nation should be conserved. 

We declare our faith in the Seamen's Act, passed by the Demo- 
cratic Congress, and we promise our earnest continuance of its en- 
forcement. 

We favor the speedy enactment of an effective Federal Child 
Labor Law and the regulation of the shipment of prison-made 
goods in interstate commerce. 

We favor the creation of a Federal Bureau of Safety in the De- 
partment of Labor, to gather facts concerning industrial hazards 
and to recommend legislation concerning the maiming and killing 
of human beings. 

We favor the extension of the powers and functions of the Fed- 
eral Bureau of Mines. 

We favor the development upon a systematic scale of the means 
already begun under the present Administration, to assist laborers 
throughout the nation to seek and obtain employment, and the 
extension by the Federal Government of the same assistance and 
encouragement as is now given to agricultural training. 

We heartily commend our newly established Department of 
Labor for its excellent record in settling industrial strikes by per- 
sonal advice and through conciliating agents. 

We favor a thorough reconsideration of the means and methods 
by which the Federal Government handles questions of public 
health, to the end that human life may be conserved by the elimi- 



358 APPENDIX 

nation of loathsome disease, the improvement of sanitation, and 
the diffusion of a knowledge of disease prevention. 

We favor the establishment by the Federal Government of tu- 
berculosis sanitariums for needy tubercular patients. 

We favor such an alteration of the rules of procedure of the 
Senate of the United States as will permit the prompt transaction 
of the nation's legislative business. 

We demand careful economy in all expenditures for the support 
of the Government and to that end favor a return by the House of 
Representatives to its former practice of initiating and preparing 
all appropriation bills through a single committee chosen from its 
membership, in order that responsibility may be centred, expend- 
itures standardized and made uniform, and waste and duplication 
in the public service as much as possible avoided. We favor this 
as a practicable first step towards a budget system. 

We reaffirm our declarations for the rigid enforcement of the 
civil service laws. 

We heartily endorse the provisions of the bill recently passed by 
the House of Representatives, further promoting self-government 
in the Philippine Islands as being in fulfilment of the policy de- 
clared by the Democratic party in its last national platform, and 
we reiterate our endorsement of the purpose of ultimate independ- 
ence for the Philippine Islands, expressed in the preamble of that 
measure. 

We recommend the extension of the franchise to the women of 
the country by the States upon the same terms as to men. 

We again declare the policy that the sacred rights of American 
citizenship must be preserved at home and abroad, and that no treaty 
with any other Government shall receive the sanction of our Gov- 
ernment which does not expressly recognize the absolute equality 
of all our citizens, irrespective of race, creed, or previous national- 
ity, and which does not recognize the right of expatriation. The 
American Government should protect American citizens in their 
rights, not only at home, but abroad, and any country having a 
government should be held to strict accountability for any wrongs 
done them, either to person or property. At the earliest practical 
opportunity, our country should strive earnestly for peace among 
the warring nations of Europe and seek to bring about the adop- 
tion of the fundamental principle of justice and humanity, that all 
men shall enjoy equality of right and freedom from discrimination 
in the lands wherein they dwell. 

We demand that the modern principles of prison reform be 
applied in our federal penal system. We favor such work for pris- 
oners as shall give them training in remunerative occupations, so 
that they may make an honest living when released from prison ; 



APPENDIX 359 

the setting apart of the net wages of the prisoner, to be paid to his 
dependent family or to be reserved for his own use upon his re- 
lease ; the liberal extension of the principles of the Federal Parole 
Law, with due regard both to the welfare of the prisoner and the 
interests of society ; the adoption of the probation system, espe- 
cially in the case of first offenders not convicted of serious crimes. 

We renew the declarations of recent Democratic platforms re- 
lating to generous pensions for soldiers and their widows, and call 
attention to our record of performance in this particular. 

We renew the declaration in our last two platforms relating to 
the development of our waterways. The recent devastation of the 
lower Mississippi Valley and several other sections by floods ac- 
centuates the movement for the regulation of river flow by addi- 
tional bank and levee protection below, and diversion, storage, and 
control of the flood waters above, and their utilization for bene- 
ficial purposes in the reclamation of arid and swamp lands, and 
development of water-power, instead of permitting the floods to 
continue, as heretofore, agents of destruction. We hold that the 
control of the Mississippi River is a national problem. The pres- 
ervation of the depth of its waters for purposes of navigation, the 
building of levees and works of bank protection to maintain the 
integrity of its channel and prevent the overflow of its valley re- 
sulting in the interruption of interstate commerce, the disorganiza- 
tion of the mail service, and the enormous loss of life and property, 
impose an obligation which alone can be discharged by the Na- 
tional Government. 

We favor the adoption of a liberal and comprehensive plan for 
the development and improvement of our harbors and inland 
waterways with economy and efficiency, so as to permit their navi- 
gation by vessels of standard draft. 

It has been and will be the policy of the Democratic party to 
enact all laws necessary for the speedy development of Alaska and 
its great natural resources. 

We favor granting to the people of Alaska, Hawaii, and Porto 
Rico the traditional Territorial Government accorded to the Ter- 
ritories of the United States since the beginning of our Govern- 
ment, and we believe the officials appointed to administer the Gov- 
ernment of those several Territories should be qualified by previous 
ionaf.de residence. 

We unreservedly endorse our President and Vice-President, 
Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey, and Thomas Riley Marshall of 
Indiana, who have performed the functions of their great offices 
faithfully and impartially and with distinguished ability. 

In particular, we commend to the American people the splendid 
diplomatic victories of our great President, who has preserved the 



/ 



360 APPENDIX 

vital interests of our Government and its citizens and kept us out 
of war. 

Woodrow Wilson stands to-day the greatest American of his 
generation. 

This is a critical hour in the history of America, a critical hour 
in the history of the world. Upon the record above set forth, which 
shows great constructive achievement in following out a consistent 
policy for our domestic and internal development ; upon the rec- 
ord of the Democratic Administration, which has maintained 
the honor, the dignity, and the interests of the United States and 
at the same time retained the respect and friendship of all the na- 
tions of the world, and upon the great policies for the future 
strengthening of the life of our country, the enlargement of our 
national vision, and the ennobling of our international relations, 
as set forth above, we appeal with confidence to the voters of the 
country. 

Socialist Party 

[The Socialist party held no national convention, but nominated its candi- 
dates and adopted its platform by mail referendum.] 

Candidates 
For President, Allan L. Benson, of New York. 
For Vice-President, George E. Kirkpatrick, of New Jersey. 

Platform 

In the midst of the greatest crisis and bloodiest struggle of all 
history the Socialist Party of America reaffirms its steadfast ad- 
herence to the principles of internationalism, world peace, and in- 
dustrial democracy. 

The great war which has engulfed so much of civilization and 
cost millions of lives is one of the natural fruits of the capitalist 
system of production. Fundamentally, it is the desire and effort 
of competing national groups of capitalists to grasp and control 
the opportunities for profitable investment which brought about 
the war, and it is that same desire which prompts the present or- 
ganized effort to fasten upon this country the crushing burdens of 
militarism. Not until the capitalist system of production is de- 
stroyed and replaced by industrial democracy will wars for mar- 
kets cease and international peace be securely established. 

Hideous as they are, the horrors of the far-stretched battlefields 
of the old world are dwarfed by the evil results of the capitalist 
system, even in normal times. Instead of being organized to pro- 



APPENDIX 361 

vide all the members of society with an abundance of food, cloth- 
ing, and shelter, and the highest attainable freedom and culture, 
industry is at present organized and conducted for the benefit of 
a parasitic class. All the powers of government, and all our indus- 
trial genius, are directed to the end of securing to the relatively 
small class of capitalist investors the largest amount of profit 
which can be wrung from the labor of the ever increasing class 
whose only property is muscle and brawn, manual and mental 
labor power. 

The dire consequences of this system are everywhere apparent. 
The workers are oppressed to the very limit of their endurance 
and deprived of all that makes for physical, mental, and moral 
well-being. Year by year poverty destroys more lives than all the 
armies and navies of the world and the lives destroyed and broken 
by industry in normal years in this country exceed those of all the 
battlefields of Europe and Asia. 

To preserve their privilege and power is the most vital interest 
of the possessing class, while it is the most vital interest of the 
working class to resist oppression, improve its position, and strug- 
gle to obtain security of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 
Hence there exists a conflict of interests, a social war within the 
nation which is capable of no truce or compromise. So long as 
the few own and control the economic life of the nation, the many 
must be enslaved, poverty must exist, and riotous luxury and civil 
strife prevail. 

The Socialist Party would end these conditions by reorganizing 
the life of the nation upon the basis of Socialism. Contrary to the 
charge made by the hired retainers and defenders of Privilege, it 
would not abolish private property, but greatly extend it. We be- 
lieve that every human being should have and own all the things 
which that individual can use to advantage, for the enrichment of 
his own life, without imposing disadvantage or burden upon any 
other human being. Socialism requires the private ownership and 
individual direction of all things, tools, economic processes and 
functions which are individualistic in character equally with the 
collective ownership and democratic control and direction of those 
which are social or collectivistic in character. Private ownership 
and direction of wheelbarrows imperils no man's freedom or well- 
being ; private ownership and direction of railways, mines, and 
factories makes their owners masters of the lives of their fellow 
men. 

We hold that this country cannot enjoy happiness and prosper- 
ity at home and maintain lasting peace with other nations, so long 
as its industrial wealth is monopolized by a capitalist oligarchy. In 
this as in every other campaign all special issues arising from 



362 APPENDIX 

temporary situations, whether domestic or foreign, must be sub- 
ordinated to the major issue — the need of such a reorganization 
of our economic life as will remove the land, the mines, forests, 
railroads, mills, and factories, all the things required for our physi- 
cal existence, from the clutches of industrial and financial free- 
booters and place them securely and permanently in the hands of 
the people. 

We demand the immediate abandonment of the Monroe Doctrine 
as a danger so great that even its advocates are agreed that it con- 
stitutes perhaps our greatest single danger of war. The Monroe 
Doctrine was originally intended to safeguard the peace of the 
United States. Though the doctrine has changed from a safeguard 
to a menace, the capitalist class still defends it for the reason that 
our great capitalists desire to retain South and Central America 
as their private trade preserve. We favor the cultivation of social 
and political friendship with all other nations in the Western Hem- 
isphere as an approach to a world confederation of nations, but 
we oppose the Monroe Doctrine because it takes from our hands 
the peace of America and places it in the custody of any nation 
that would attack the sovereignty of any state in the Western 
World. 

If men were free to labor to satisfy their desires there could be 
in this country neither poverty nor involuntary unemployment. 
But men in this country are not free to labor to satisfy their desires. 
The great industrial population can labor ouly when the capitalist 
class, who own the industries, believe they can market their product 
at a profit. The needs of millions are based upon the greeds of a 
few. The situation is not unlike that of a pyramid balanced upon 
its apex. Oftentimes this pyramid tumbles and industrial depres- 
sion comes. There was such a crash in 1907. If the capitalist owners 
had been willing to get out of the way, industry could have been 
revived in a day. But the capitalist owners are never willing to get 
out of the way. Their greed comes first — the people's needs, if at 
all, afterward. Therefore business did not quickly revive after the 
industrial depression of 1907. Mr. Taft was elected to bring good 
times, but in four years failed to bring them. Mr. Wilson was 
elected to bring good times, but not all of the measures he advo- 
cated had the slightest effect upon industry. It was only when the 
breaking out of war in Europe brought to this country tremen- 
dous orders for military supplies that the country entered upon 
what is called " prosperity " and which is really prosperity for the 
few who are profiting from the trade in ammunition, food, and 
other goods. We deny, however, that for the masses of the people 
there is any real prosperity, and we assert that for millions there 
is real poverty. As against the boast of the present National Ad- 



APPENDIX 363 

ministration that its political programme, now fully in force, has 
brought prosperity to the masses, we place Federal Public Health 
Bulletin No. 76, issued in the spring of 1916 and signed by Dr. 
B. S. Warren, surgeon in the United States Public Health Service, 
in which the statement is made that eight hundred dollars a year 
is required to enable a family to avoid physical deterioration 
through lack of food ; that more than half the families of working- 
men receive less than that amount ; that nearly a third receive less 
than five hundred dollars a year and that one family in twelve re- 
ceives less than three hundred dollars a year. As proof of what in- 
sufficient food is doing to the bodies of millions of people, we point 
to the fact that medical examiners in the army are this year rejecting 
four fifths of the young men who seek to enter the army, and that 
this tremendous percentage of physically unfit, while alarming, is 
not unusually large. At Ludlow, Youngstown, Calumet, Bayonne, 
and in West Virginia, labor has fought against great odds for its 
right to exist, while capitalist government, by persecuting labor 
leaders, has lent itself to the subjugation of the workers. 

The capitalist class, for a great many years has been trying to 
saddle upon this country a greater army and a greater navy. A 
greater army is desired to keep the working class of the United 
States in subjection. 

A greater navy is desired to safeguard the foreign investments 
of American capitalists and to " back up " American diplomacy in 
its efforts to gain foreign markets for American capitalists. The 
war in Europe, which diminished and is still diminishing the re- 
mote possibility of European attack upon the United States, was 
nevertheless seized upon by capitalists and by unscrupulous politi- 
cians as a means of spreading fear throughout the country to the 
end that, by false pretences, great military establishments might be 
obtained. We denounce such " preparedness " as both false in 
principle, unnecessary in character, and dangerous in its plain tend- 
encies toward militarism. We advocate that sort of social pre- 
paredness which expresses itself in better homes, better bodies, 
and better minds, which are alike the products of plenty and the 
necessity of effective defence in war. 

The Socialist Party maintains its attitude of unalterable opposi- 
tion to war. But upon behalf of the working class we demand that 
the power be taken from the President by which he may lead the 
nation into a position from which there is no escape from war. 
No man, however exalted in official station, should have the power 
to decide the question of peace or war for a nation of a hundred 
millions. To give one man such power is neither democratic nor 
safe. Yet the President has such power when he exercises the sole 
right to determine what shall be the nation's foreign policies and 



364 APPENDIX 

what shall be the nature and tone of its diplomatic intercourse 
with other nations. We, therefore, demand that the power to fix 
foreign policies and conduct diplomatic negotiations shall be 
lodged in the Congress, the people reserving the right by refer- 
endum to order the Congress, at any time, to change its foreign 
policy. We also reiterate and emphasize the fact that Socialism 
will abolish the causes of war and thereby make war a thing of 
the past. 

The Socialist Party is in favor of and demands the immediate 
recognition of the independence of the Philippine Islands, as a 
measure of justice both to the Filipinos and to ourselves. The 
Filipinos are entitled to self-government ; we are entitled to be 
freed from the necessity of building and maintaining enough 
dreadnoughts to defend them in the event of war. 

As measures calculated to strengthen the working class in its 
fight for the realization of its ultimate aim, the Cooperative Com- 
monwealth, and to increase its power of resistance against capital- 
ist oppression, we advocate and pledge ourselves and our elected 
officers to the following programme : — 

(1) The immediate repeal of all laws and appropriations for the 
increase of the military and naval forces of the United States. 

(2) The power to establish the relations of this country with 
foreign nations shall be taken from the President and vested in 
Congress. All diplomatic negotiations shall be conducted pub- 
licly. No war shall be declared by the United States without a 
referendum vote of the entire people, except in the case of an in- 
vasion of its territory. 

(3) The Government of the United States shall call a congress 
of all neutral nations to mediate between the belligerent powers in 
an effort to establish an immediate and lasting peace without in- 
demnities or annexation of territory, except as based upon popular 
vote of the territory involved, and based upon a binding and en- 
forceable international treaty, which shall provide for concerted 
disarmament on land and sea and for an international congress 
with power to adjust all disputes between nations. 

(4) The Philippine Islands shall immediately be given full 
political freedom and independence, the United States surrender- 
ing all claims to the possession and government of any part of 
their territory. 

(5) Unrestricted and equal suffrage for men and women. The 
immediate adoption of the Susan B. Anthony amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States granting the suffrage to women 
on equal terms with men. 

(6) The adoption of the initiative, referendum, and recall, and 
proportional representation, nationally as well as locally. 



APPENDIX 365 

(7) The abolition of the Senate and of the veto power of the 
President. 

(8) The election of the President and the Vice-President by di- 
rect vote of the people. 

(9) The abolition of the present restriction upon the amend- 
ment of the Constitution so that that instrument may be made 
amendable by a majority of the voters in the country. 

(10) The calling of a convention for the revision of the Consti- 
tution of the United States. 

(11) The abolition of the power usurped by the Supreme Court 
of the United States to pass upon the constitutionality of legisla- 
tion enacted by Congress. National laws to be repealed only by act 
of Congress or by a referendum vote of the whole people. 

(12) The immediate curbing of the power of the courts to issue 
injunctions. 

(13) The election of all judges of the United States Courts for 
short terms. 

(14) The free administration of the law. 

(15) The granting of the right of suffrage in the District of 
Columbia with representation in Congress and a democratic form 
of municipal government for purely local affairs. 

(16) The extension of democratic form of government to all 
United States territory. 

(17) The freedom of press, speech, and assemblage. 

(18) The increase of the rates of the present income tax and 
corporation tax and the extension of inheritance taxes, graduated 
in proportion to the value of the estate and to nearness of kin — 
the proceeds of these taxes to be employed in the socialization of 
industry. 

(19) The enactment of further measures for general education 
and particularly for vocational education in useful pursuits. The 
Bureau of Education to be made a department. 

(20) The enactment of further measures for the conservation of 
health and the creation of an independent Department of Health. 

(21) The abolition of the monopoly ownership of patents and 
the substitution of collective ownership, with direct rewards to 
inventors by premiums or royalties. 

(1) The collective ownership and democratic management of 
railroads, telegraphs and telephones, express service, steamboat 
lines, and all other social means of transportation and communi- 
cation and of all large-scale industries. 

(2) The immediate acquirement by the municipalities, the States, 
or the Federal Government of all grain elevators, stockyards, stor- 
age warehouses, and other distributing agencies, in order to relieve 



366 APPENDIX 

the farmer from the extortionate charges of the middleman and to 
reduce the present high cost of living. 

(3) The extension of the public domain to include mines, quar- 
ries, oil wells, forests and water-power. 

(4) The further conservation and development of natural re- 
sources for the use and benefit of all the people : — 

(a) By scientific forestation and timber protection. 

(b) By the reclamation of arid and swamp tracts.. 

(c) By the storage of fiood waters and the utilization of 
water-power. 

(d) By the stoppage of the present extravagant waste of the 
soil and of the products of mines and oil wells. 

(e) By the development of highway and waterway systems. 

(5) The collective ownership of land wherever practicable, and 
in cases where such ownership is impracticable, the appropriation 
by taxation of the annual rental value of all land held for specu- 
lation or exploitation. 

(6) All currency shall be issued by the Government of the United 
States and shall be legal tender for the payment of taxes and im- 
post duties and for the discharge of public and private debts. The 
Government shall lend money on bonds to counties and munici- 
palities at a nominal rate of interest for the purpose of taking over 
or establishing public utilities and for building or maintaining 
public roads and highways and public schools — up to twenty-five 
per cent of the assessed valuation of such counties or municipalities. 
Said bonds are to be repaid in twenty equal and annual install- 
ments, and the currency issued for the purpose by the Government 
is to be cancelled and destroyed seriatim as the debt is repaid. All 
banks and banking institutions shall be owned by the Government 
of the United States or by the States. 

(7) Government relief for the unemployed by the extension of 
all useful public works. All persons employed on such works to 
be engaged directly by the Government under a work day of not 
more than eight hours and at not less than the prevailing union 
wages. The Government also to establish employment bureaus ; 
to lend money to States and municipalities without interest for 
the purpose of carrying on public works ; to contribute money to 
unemployment funds of labor unions and other organizations of 
workers ; and to take such other measures within its power as will 
lessen the widespread misery of the workers caused by the misrule 
of the capitalistic class. 

The conservation of human resources, particularly of the lives 
and well-being of the workers and their families : — 

(1) By shortening the work day in keeping with the increased 
productiveness of machinery. 



APPENDIX 367 

(2) By securing the freedom of political and economic organi- 
zation and activity. 

(3) By securing to every worker a rest period of not less than 
a day and half each week. 

(4) By securing a more effective inspection of workshops, fac- 
tories, and mines. 

(5) By forbidding the employment of children under eighteen 
years of age. 

(6) By forbidding the interstate transportation of the products 
of child labor and of all uninspected factories and mines. 

Convention of the Prohibition Party, held at 
St. Paul, July 18 

Candidates 
For President, J. Frank Hanly, of Indiana. 
For Vice President, Ira D. Landrith, of Massachusetts. 

Platform 

The Prohibition Party, assembled in its Twelfth National Con- 
vention in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, on this Twentieth day 
of July, 1916, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of liberty, 
for our institutions and the multiplying signs of early victory for 
the cause for which the Party stands, in order that the people may 
know the source of its faith and the basis of its action, should it be 
clothed with governmental power, challenges the attention of the 
Nation and asks the votes of the people on this Declaration of 
principles. 

We denounce the traffic in intoxicating liquors. We believe in its 
abolition. It is a crime — not a business — and should not have 
governmental sanction. 

We demand — and if given power, we will effectuate the demand 
— that the manufacture, importation, exportation, transportation 
and sale of alcoholic beverage purposes shall be prohibited. 

To the accomplishment of that end, we pledge the exercise of all 
governmental power and amendment of statutes and the amend- 
ment of constitutions, State and National. Only by a political party 
committed to this purpose can such policy be made effective. We 
call upon all voters, so believing, to place the Prohibition Party in 
power upon this issue as a necessary step in the solution of the 
liquor problem. 

The right of citizens of the United States to vote should not be 
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account 
of sex. We declare in favor of the enfranchisement of women by 
amendments to State and Federal Constitutions. 



368 APPENDIX 

We condemn the Republican and Democratic parties for their 
failure to submit an equal suffrage amendment to the National 
Constitution. We remind the four million women voters that our 
Party was the first to declare for their political rights, which it did 
in 1872. We invite their cooperation in electing the Prohibition 
Party to power. 

We are committed to the policy of peace and friendliness with 
all nations. We are unalterably opposed to the wasteful military 
programme of the Democratic and Republican Parties. Militarism 
protects no worthy institution. It endangers them all. It violates 
the high principles which have brought us as a Nation to the pres- 
ent hour. We are for a constructive progamme in preparedness for 
peace. We declare for and will promote a world court, to which 
national differences shall be submitted, so maintained as to give 
its decrees binding force. 

We will support a compact among nations to dismantle navies and 
disband armies, but until such court and compact are established 
we pledge ourselves to maintain an effective army and navy and to 
provide coast defenses entirely adequate for national protection. 

We are opposed to universal military service, and to partici- 
pation in the rivalry that has brought Europe to the shambles and 
now imperils the civilization of the race. 

Private profit, so far as constitutionally possible, should be taken 
out of the manufacture of war munitions and all war equipment. 

In normal times we favor the employment of the army in vast 
reclamation plans, in reforesting hills and mountains, in building 
State and National highways, in the construction of an inland 
waterway from Florida to Maine, in the opening of Alaska and in 
unnumbered other projects which will make our soldiers construc- 
tive builders of peace. For such service there should be paid an 
adequate individual wage. 

Those units of our navy which are capable of being converted 
into merchantmen and passenger vessels should be constructed 
with that purpose in view, and chiefly so utilized in time of peace. 

We condemn the political parties, which for more than thirty 
years have allowed munition and war equipment manufacturers to 
plunder the people and to jeopardize the highest interest of the 
Nation by furnishing honey-combed armour plate and second rate 
battleships which the Navy League now declares are wholly inade- 
quate. 

We will not allow the country to forget that the first step to- 
ward physical, economic, moral and political preparedness is the 
enactment of National Prohibition. 

The countries at war are preparing for a fierce industrial struggle 
to follow the cessation of hostilities. As a matter of commercial 
economy, international friendliness, business efficiency, and as a 



APPENDIX 369 

help to peace, we demand that reciprocal trade treaties be negoti- 
ated with all nations with which we have trade relations. A Com- 
mission of specialists, free from the control of any party, should 
be appointed with power to gather full information of all phases 
of the questions of tariff and reciprocity, and to recommend such 
legislation as it deems necessary for the welfare of American busi- 
ness and labor. 

The necessity of legislation to enable American ship builders or 
owners to meet foreign competition, on the most favorable terms, 
is obvious. 

Materials for construction should be admitted free of duty. 

The purchase of ships abroad, when low prices invite, should be 
allowed and, when so purchased, should be admitted to American 
registry. 

Harbor rules and charges and navigation laws should not be 
onerous, but favorable to the highest degree. 

Liberal payment should be made by the Government for the 
carrying of mails or for transport services. 

All shipping from the United States to any of our possessions 
should be reserved to ships of American registry. 

The people should not overlook the fact that the effect of Nation- 
wide Prohibition, on labor and industry generally, will be such as 
to lower the cost of ship building per unit, and at the same time 
permit the payment of higher wages. The increased volume of 
trade and commerce, which will result, when the wastage of the 
liquor traffic is stopped, will quicken our shipping on every sea 
and send our flag on peaceful missions into every port. This is 
urged as an incidental effect of wise action on the liquor question, 
but is none the less to be desired and will aid in the solution of 
the problem of our merchant marine. 

Mexico needs not a conqueror, but a good Samaritan. We are 
opposed to the violation of the sovereignty of the Mexican people, 
and we will countenance no war of aggression against them. We 
pledge the help of this country in the suppression of lawless bands 
of marauders and murderers, who have taken the lives of American 
citizens, on both sides of the border, as well as of Mexicans in 
their own country. 

The lives and property of our citizens, when about their lawful 
pursuits, either in the United States or in Mexico, must and will 
be protected. In the event of a break-down of government across 
the border, we would use, in the interests of civilization, the force 
necessary for the establishment of law and order. 

In this connection we affirm our faith in the Monroe Doctrine, 
proclaimed in the early days of the Nation's life and unswervingly 
maintained for nearly a hundred years. 

We cannot claim the benefits of the Doctrine and refuse to as- 



370 APPENDIX 

sume or discharge the responsibility and the duties which inhere 
therein and flow therefrom. 

Those duties have long been unmet in Mexico. We should meet 
them now, acting, not for territory, not for conquest or for our- 
selves alone, but for and with all the nations of North and South 
America. 

The Democratic party has blundered, and four years ago the 
Republican party evaded and passed on the problem it now asks 
the opportunity to solve. 

The abandonment of the Philippines at this time would be an 
injustice to them and a violation of our plain duty. As soon as 
they are prepared for self-government, by education and training, 
they should be granted their independence on terms just to them- 
selves and us. 

We reaffirm our declaration in favor of conservation of forests, 
water power and other natural resources. 

Departmental decisions ought not to be final, but the rights of 
the people should be protected by provision for court review. 

In order that the public service may be of the highest standard, 
the government should be a model employer in all respects. To en- 
force the civil service law in spirit as well as in letter, all promo- 
tions should be non-political, based only upon proven fitness ; all 
recommendations for demotions or removals from the service 
should be subjected to the review of a non-partisan board or com- 
mission. 

The merit system should be extended to cover all postmasters, 
collectors of revenue, marshals and other such public officials 
whose duties are purely administrative. 

We reaffirm our allegiance to the principle of secure tenure of 
office, during good behavior and capable effort, as the means of 
obtaining expert service. We declare for the enactment of an 
equitable retirement law for disabled and superannuated employ- 
ees, in return for faithful service rendered, to maintain a high de- 
gree of efficiency in public office. 

We stand for Americanism. We believe this country was cre- 
ated for a great mission among the nations of the earth. We re- 
joice in the fact that it has offered asylum to the oppressed of 
other lands and for those, more fortunately situated, who yet 
wished to improve their condition. It is the land of all peoples and 
belongs not to any one — it is the heritage of all. It should come 
first in the affections of every citizen, and he who loves another 
land more than this is not fit for citizenship here, but he is a 
better citizen who, loving his country, has reverence for the land 
of his fathers and gains from its history and traditions that which 
inspires him to nobler service to the one in which he lives. 

The Federal Government should interest itself in helping the 



APPENDIX 371 

newcomer into that vocation and locality where he shall most 
quickly become an American. Those fitted by experience and 
training for agricultural pursuits should be encouraged to develop 
the millions of acres of rich and idle land. 

We favor uniform marriage and divorce laws, the extermina- 
tion of polygamy and the complete suppression of the traffic in 
women and girls. 

Differences between capital and labor should be settled through 
arbitration, by which the rights of the public are conserved as 
well as those of the disputants. We declare for the prohibition of 
child labor in factories, mines and workshops ; an eight-hour 
maximum day, with one day of rest in seven ; for more rigid sani- 
tary requirements and such working conditions as shall foster the 
physical and moral well-being of the unborn ; for the protection 
of all who toil, by the extension of Employers' Liability Acts ; for 
the adoption of safety appliance for the safeguarding of labor; 
and for laws that will promote the just division of the wealth 
which labor and capital jointly produce. Provision should be made 
for those who suffer from industrial accidents and occupational 
diseases. 

We pledge a business-like administration of the Nation's affairs ; 
the abolition of useless offices, bureaus and commissions; economy 
in the expenditure of public funds ; efficiency in governmental 
service ; and the adoption of the budget system. The President 
should have power to veto any single item or items of an appro- 
priation bill. 

We condemn, and agree when in power to remedy, that which is 
known as " pork barrel " legislation, by which millions of dollars 
have been appropriated for rivers where there is no commerce, 
harbors where there are no ships and public buildings where 
there is no need. 

We are in favor of a single presidential term of six years. 

Public utilities and other resources that are natural monopolies 
are at the present time exploited for personal gain under a monop- 
olistic system. We demand the public ownership or control of all 
such utilities by the people and their operation and administra- 
tion in the interests of all the people. 

We stand for the preservation and development of our free in- 
stitutions and for absolute separation of church and state with the 
guaranty of full religious and civil liberty. 

We stand for the rights, safety, justice and development of hu- 
manity ; we believe in the equality of all before the law ; in old- 
age pensions and insurance against unemployment and in help for 
needy mothers, all of which could be provided from what is now 
wasted in drink. 

While it is admitted that grain and cotton are fundamental 






372 APPENDIX 

factors in our national life, it cannot be denied that proper assist- 
ance and protection are not given these commodities at terminal 
markets, in the course of iuter-state commerce. 

We favor and pledge our efforts to obtain graiu elevators at 
necessary terminal markets, such elevators to be owned and oper- 
ated by the Federal Government ; also to secure Federal grain 
inspection under a system of civil service and to secure the aboli- 
tion of any Board of Trade, Chamber of Commerce, or other place 
of gambling in grain or trading in "options" or "futures" or 
" short-selling," or any other form of so-called speculation wherein 
products are not received or delivered, but wherein so-called con- 
tracts are settled by the payment of " margins " or " differences " 
through clearing houses or otherwise. 

This Party stands committed to free and open markets based 
upon legitimate supply and demand, absolutely free from ques- 
tionable practices of market manipulation. We also favor govern- 
ment warehouses for cotton at proper terminals where the interests 
of producers require the same ; and the absolute divorce of all 
railroad elevators or warehouses owned by railroad companies, 
either public or private, from operation and control of private in- 
dividuals in competition with the public in merchandising grain, 
cotton or other farm products. 

We furthermore endorse all proper methods among producers 
of those means of cooperative mutual enterprise, which tend 
toward broader and better markets for both producer and con- 
sumer. 

This is the day of opportunity for the American people. The 
triumph of neither old political party is essential to our safety 
or progress. The defeat of either will be no public misfor- 
tune. They are one party. By age and wealth, by membership 
and traditions, by platforms and in the character of their candi- 
dates, they are the Conservative Party of the United States. The 
Prohibition Party as the promoter of every important measure of 
social justice presented to the American people in the last two 
generations, and as the originator of nearly all such legislation, 
remains now the only great Progressive Party. 

The patriotic voters, who compose the Republican and Demo- 
cratic parties, can, by voting the Prohibition ticket this year, elect 
the issue of National Prohibition. 

To those, in whatever party, who have the vision of a land re- 
deemed from drink, we extend a cordial invitation to join with us 
in carrying the banner of Prohibition to Nation-wide victory. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Abolitionists, condemned by the Dem- 
ocrats, 1, 200, 266; convention of, in 
1839, 202; in 1843, 216; defeat Clay, 
224; convention in 1847, 232; in 1852, 
253. 

Adams, Charles Francis, nominated 
for Vice-President, 1, 239; in canvass 
of 1872, 340, 344. 

Adams, John, suggested for Vice-presi- 
dent, 1789, 1, 24; elected, 27; his 
journey* to New York, and inaugura- 
tion, 30; reelected Vice-President, 39; 
named for President, 44; virulent at- 
tacks upon him, 45; elected President, 
51 ; counts the votes and declares his 
own election, 52; relations with the 
Federalist party, 56; defeated in 1800, 
63; elector for Monroe, in 1820, 118. 

Adams, John Quincy, goes over to the 
Republican party, 1, 93; receives one 
vote for President in 1820, 118, 121; 
candidate in 1824, 126, 129, 131; popu- 
lar votes for, 136; electoral votes, 140; 
chosen by the House of Representa- 
tives, 140; his character and adminis- 
tration, 142; attacks New England 
Federalists, 146; popular votes for in 
1828, 149; member of Congress, 193; 
favors the acquisition of Cuba, 2, 8. 

Adams, Samuel, suggested for Vice- 
President, 1, 24; his course in the can- 
vass of 1796, 48; votes for, 51. 

Addams, Jane, in the Progressive Con- 
vention of 1912, 2, 298. 

Adet, Pierre Auguste, French minister, 
endeavors to defeat the election of 
Adams, 1, 46. 

Aguinaldo, Filipino leader, 2, 27, 77. 

Alabama, admitted to the Union, 1, 
118. 

Alaska, boundary question, 2, 92, 109; 
government of, 122, 251, 268, 270, 294. 

Aldrich, Nelson W., 2, 6, 7, 225; his 
currency plan opposed by the Demo- 
crats, 265; by the Progressives, 293. 



Allen and Sedition Laws, 1, 57, 201. 
Allen ownership of land. See Land, 

public. 
Allison, William B., 1, 392, 538. 
American party. See Native American. 
American party of 1888, convention, 

1, 480. 
American Tobacco Company, disso- 
lution of, 1, 232, 262. 
Annexation of Texas. See Texas. 
Anthracite coal strike, in 1902, 2, 

93. 
Anti-Federalist party, 1, 32. See also 

Re-publican party. 
"Anti-imperialism," 2, 24, 41, 58, 

67, 68, 72, 73, 120, 269. 
Anti-imperialist League, convention 

of 1900, 2, 69. 
Anti-imperialists, conference of, in 

1900, 2, 68. 
Anti-Masonic party, its origin, 1, 155; 

merged with the Whig party, ISO. 
Anti-monopoly party, convention of, 

in 1SS4, 1, 421. 
Anti-Nebraska Democrats, 1, 260. 
* 'Anti-Snappers," of 1892, 1, 493. 
Arbitrary arrests during the Civil War, 

1, 298, 304. 
Arbitration of international disputes, 

1, 256, 365, 441, 462, 466, 507, 520, 

521, 560; 2, 247, 264, 285. 
Arizona, question of its admission, 2, 

49, 62, 67, 122, 144, 178, 193; admitt- 
ed to the Union, 223, 270. 
Arkansas, admitted to the Union, 1, 

184; electoral vote of, in 1S72 objected 

to and excluded, 354. 
Armstrong, James, votes for in 1789, 

1,27. 
Army Vote, in 1864, 1, 307. 
Arthur, Chester A., nominated for 

Vice-President, 1, 408; elected, 417; 

becomes President, 419; in the can- 
vass of 1884, 427, 432. 
Ashburton Treaty, 1, 238, 250. 



376 



INDEX 



Baldwin, Simeon E„, candidate for 
Democratic nomination, 2, 255; votes 
for, in convention of 1912, 259. 

Ballinger, Richard A., Secretary of the 
Interior, contest over, 2, 221, 

Bank of the United States, second 
bank incorporated, 1, 108; war upon, 
by Jackson, 155, 157, 178; renewal of 
charter vetoed, 162; the panic of 1837, 
191; Van Buren continues war upon, 
192; condemned by Democrats, 200; 
Tyler's opposition to, 207; in plat- 
forms, 200. 

Banks, Nathaniel P., 1, 271; electoral 
vote for, in 1873, 353. 

Banks, national, in politics and plat- 
forms, 1, 333, 365, 367, 409, 544, 551; 
2, 265. 

Barbour, James, 1, 114, 119, 145, 194. 

Barker, Wharton, candidate for Presi- 
dent, 2, 42. 

•* Barnburners," Democratic faction, 
1, 229; convention in 1848, 238. 

Bayard, James A., reasons for aban- 
doning Burr, 1, 71. 

Bayard, Thomas F„ t, 349, 379, 387, 
412, 414, 415, 440. 

Bell, John, nominated for President, 1, 
289; popular and electoral votes for, 
297. 

Benson, Allan L,, nominated for 
President, 2, 360. 

Bentley, Charles E., nominated for 
President, 1, 532; popular votes for, 
567. 

Beveridge, Albert S., 2, 254, 288. 

Bidwell, John, nominated for Presi- 
dent, 1, 508. 

Bimetallism. See Silver. 

Birney, James G., nominated for Presi- 
dent, 1, 202; popular votes for, 203; 
nominated in 1843, 216; popular 
votes for, 223 ; accused of seeking alli- 
ance with Democrats, 224. 

Bishop, Richard M., 1, 415. 

Black, James, nominated for President, 
1, 340; popular votes for, 352. 

Blaine, James G., 1, 330, 362, 368, 373, 
402, 407, 408, 427; nominated for 
President, 432; popular and electoral 
votes for, 448; " Paris interview " on 
the tariff, 458 ; withdraws from the can- 
vass in 1888, 459; attempt to stam- 
pede convention for, 478; Secretary of 



State, 489,"492; resigns, 493; rotes for 
in the convention of 1892, 497; as Sec- 
retary of State holds the Clayton- 
Bulwer Treaty abrogated, 2, 79; his 
opinion of the Tenure -of-offiee Act, 
315. 

Blair, Franeis P., Jr., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1, 326; popular and 
electoral votes for, 328. 

" Bloody Shirt," waving the, 1, 357. 

Boer War, 2, 41, 50, 63, 67. 

Boies, Horace, 1, 505. 

Bonds, taxation of United States, 1, 
316, 322, 333, 336; payment of, with 
greenbacks, 316, 322, 333, 336; issue 
of, in time of peace, 544, 552, 556. 

Booth, Newton, nominated for Vice- 
President, declined, 1, 367. 

Borah, William E., 2, 254. 

Borden, Robert L., Canadian states- 
man, 2, 231. 

Bolts, John M., letter from, on Tyler, 
1, 207; in the canvass of 1860, 289. 

Boutwell, George S., 2, 25. 

Boxer Insurrection in China, 2, 83. 

Bradley, Stephen R., call for a con- 
gressional caucus in 1808, 1, 90. 

Bramlctte, Thomas E., votes for as 
Vice-President in 1872, 1, 353. 

Breckinridge, John C, nominated for 
Vice-President, 1, 265; elected, 276; 
nominated for President, 285, 287; 
popular and electoral votes for, 297. 

Bristow, Benjamin H., 1, 363, 368, 
373. 

" Broad Gauge " Prohibitionists, 1, 
528. 

Brooks, John A., nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 468. 

Brown, B. Gratz, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 344, 349; electoral votes 
for, 353. 

Brown, John, raid by, 1, 281. 

Brownsville affair, 2, 153. 

Bryan, William J., 1, 542, 547; nomi- 
nated for President by the Democrats, 
548; by the People's party, 554; by the 
National Silver party, 557; his per- 
sonal canvass, 563, 564; popular votes 
for, 567; electoral votes for, 568; his 
position on the Treaty of Paris, 2, 26; 
his leadership in the canvass of 1900, 
31; nominated for President by the 
Fusion wing of the Populists, 39; 



INDEX 



377 



dominates the Democratic convention 
of 1900, 56; nominated by that con- 
vention, 63; endorsed by the Anti-im- 
perialists, 71; his activity in the pre- 
election canvass, 73; popular and elec- 
toral votes for, 75; opposition to, in 
1904, 95; he opposes Judge Parker, 
117; mildly supports the ticket, 133; 
in the canvass of 1908, 153, 157, 183; 
nominated for the third time, 196; his 
stumping tours, 206; popular and elec- 
toral votes for, 208; in the canvass of 
1912, his influence in the Democratic 
convention, 256, 257, 259, 260. 

Buchanan, James, 1, 138, 209; votes 
for in the convention of 1844 ; in that of 
1848, 233; in the canvass of 1852, 247; 
the " Ostend Manifesto," 261; nomi- 
nated for President, 265; elected, 276; 
his administration, 280. 

Buckner, Simon B., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1, 561. 

Bureau of Mines, 2, 222. 

Burke, John, 2, 271. 

Burr, Aaron, votes for, in 1792, 1, 39; 
candidate with Jefferson in 1796, 44; 
votes for, 51; nominated by the cau- 
cus, in 1800, 59; votes for, 63; becomes 
Vice-President, 73. 

Butler, Benjamin F., 1, 283, 330; in 
electoral count of 1869, 331; in the 
canvass of 1880, 411; nominated for 
President, 423, 427; popular votes for, 
448. 

Butler, William O., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1, 234; electoral votes 
for, 243; in canvass of 1852, 249. 

Caffery, Donelson, nominated for 
President, declines, 2, 72. 

Calhoun, John C, 1, 98, 117; pro- 
posed for President, 126; candidate 
for Vice-President, 132; elected, 135; 
reelected, 149; suggested for Presi- 
dent in 1844, 208; votes for, in con- 
vention, 212; negotiates treaty for an- 
nexation of Texas, 227; votes for, in 
convention of 1848, 233; the compro- 
mises of 1850, 245. 

California, admitted to the Union, 1, 
246, 257; its vote divided in 1880, 418; 
in 1892, 517; in 1896, 566; its con- 
tested delegation in the Republican 
convention of 1912, 2, 244. 



Cambon, Jules, French ambassador at 

Washington, 2, 23. 

Cambreleng, Churchill C, political 
mission in the South, 1, 144. 

Campaign contributions by corpora- 
tions, publicity demanded, 2, 149, 
180, 201, 250, 263, 290. 

Canada, reciprocity with, 2, 229. 

Canal, Isthmian, construction of, ad- 
vocated in party platforms, 1, 476, 
497, 502, 535; 2, 50, 62, 66; negotia- 
tions with Colombia, 88; construction 
of Panama Canal assured, 91; other 
references, 106, 122, 178, 193, 235, 
252, 269, 295. 

Cannon, Joseph G., 2, 14, 156, 181, 
223, 252, 269. 

Canvass of 1900, characteristics of, 2, 72 ; 
of 1904, 133; of 1908, 206; of 1912, 298. 

Carlisle, John G., 1, 440. 

" Carpet-baggers," 1, 357. 

Carroll, George W., nominated for 
Vice-President, 2, 112. 

Cary, Samuel F., nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 367. 

Cass, Lewis, votes for, in convention of 
1844, 1, 209; nominated for President, 
233; popular and electoral votes for, 
243; in canvass of 1852, 247. 

Casus omissus, 1, 119, 271, 450. 

Caucus congressional, nominations, 
Federalist and Republican, in 1800, 1, 
58, 59; Jefferson and George Clinton 
nominated in 1804, 82; opposition to 
the caucus, in 1808, 90; Madison nomi- 
nated, 91; nominations in 1812, 99; 
opposition to, in 1816, 109; abortive 
caucus in 1820, 117; discussion of and 
war against, 1822-24, 126, 130; result 
of, 131; faults of the system, 168. 

Chafln, Eugene W., nominated for 
President in 1908, 2, 198; popular 
votes for, 208; nominated in 1912, 285; 
popular votes for, 302. 

Chambers, B. J., nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 411. 

Chase, Salmon P., 1, 270, 290, 294, 
321, 325, 340, 344. 

Chase, Solon, 1, 423, 427. 

Cherokee and Creek Indians, their 
removal, 1, 154, 157. 

Child labor, in platforms, 2, 116, 149, 
160, 167, 193, 198, 246, 285, 289, 348, 
367. 



378 



INDEX 



Chinese immigration and labor, in 

politics and platforms, 1, 335, 336, 371, 
377, 401, 405, 410, 414, 416, 419, 430, 
438, 444, 462, 469, 474, 502; 2, 63, 107. 

Cipher despatches, 1, 381. 

Citizenship of inhabitants of Porto 
Rico, 2, 78, 149, 178, 252. 

Civil Bights bill, vetoed by President 
Johnson, 1, 315. 

Civil Service Reform, in politics and 
platforms, 1, 153, 158, 334, 337, 343, 
347, 370, 406, 419, 430, 437, 457, 466, 
469, 477, 496, 501, 536, 546, 560; 2, 49, 
66, 68, 72, 107, 111, 123, 177, 193, 250, 
269, 297, 345; history of the reform, 
316, 370. 

Clay, Henry, 1, 98, 99; opposes the 
caucus, in 1816, 109; on electoral vote 
of Indiana, 113; on electoral vote of 
Missouri, 119; candidate for President 
in 1824, 126; suggestion of a coalition 
with Crawford, 132; popular votes for, 
136; accused of a corrupt bargain, 138; 
electoral votes for, in 1824, 140; sug- 
gested for Vice-President in 1828, 145; 
nominated by National Republicans, 
157; popular votes for, 163; electoral 
votes, 164; inquiry by, into qualifica- 
tions of electors, 184; his attitude in 
1839, 193; his letter on Texas, 210; 
nominated by the Whigs, in 1844, 220; 
popular and electoral votes for, 223; 
defeated by Abolitionists, 224; in the 
canvass of 1848, 230; defeated in con- 
vention, 237; the compromises of 1850, 
245; his extension of the power of the 
Speaker, 2, 336. 

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 2, 7, 79. 

Cleveland, Grover, elected Governor 
of New York, 1, 420, 433; nominated 
for President, 440; elected, 448; his 
appointments to office, 457; nominated 
for reelection, 471; popular and elec- 
toral votes for, in 1888, 483; in the can- 
vass of 1892, 493; nominated in that 
year, 504; elected, 517; foreign rela- 
tions during his second administration, 
519; alienated from his party, 523; 
Democratic convention of 1896 re- 
fuses to approve his administration, 
547; commended by National Demo- 
crats, 560; his unpleasant situation, 
1894-97, 2, 1 ; his attitude toward the 
Cuban rebellion, 10; withdraws treaty 



of annexation of Hawaii, 21; his use of 
the veto power, 324; of the legislative 
power, 328. 

Clinton, DeWitt, 1, 78, 79, 92; candi- 
date for President, 100; votes for, in 
1812, 104; candidate in 1824, 126; fa- 
vors appointment of electors by popu- 
lar vote, 147. 

Clinton, George, candidate of the 
Anti-Federalists, 1, 26; votes for, in 
1789, 27; opposed to John Adams, in 
1792, 34; votes for, as Vice-President 
in 1792, 39; votes for, in 1796, 51; 
nominated by caucus for Vice-Presi- 
dent, 82; elected, 84; nominated in 
1808, 91; repudiates the caucus, 92; 
reelected, 95; dies in office, 99. 

Coal strike, in 1902, 2, 93, 108. 

" Coastwise trade " by way of the 
Panama Canal, 2, 235. 

Cochrane, John, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 300; withdraws, 301. 

Cockrell, Francis M., 2, 124. 

Colfax, Schuyler, 1, 318; nominated 
for Vice-President, in 1868, 321; 
elected, 328; defeated in 1872, 348. 

Colombia, Republic of, blocks the 
Panama Canal, 2, 89. 

Colorado, bill to admit to the Union 
vetoed, 1, 315; admitted, 380. 

Colquitt, Alfred H., votes for, as Vice- 
President in 1872, 1, 353. 

Commerce Court, established and 
abolished, 2, 222. 

Commerce and Labor, establishment 
of a Department of, advocated in plat- 
forms, 2, 50, 62. 

Commission, Electoral. See Electoral 
Commission. 

Common Carriers, regulation of, 2, 

150, 222. 

Compromises of 1850, 1, 245; in plat- 
forms, 249, 252, 254, 258, 267. 

Conant, John A., nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 442. 

Conkling, Roscoe, 1, 361, 368, 373, 
402, 408, 419. 

Conservation of natural resources, 2, 

151, 176, 194, 198, 222, 250, 267, 285, 
294, 345, 349, 355, 366, 370. 

Constitutional Union party, 1, 282; 
convention in 1860, 288. 

" Constructive " recess of the Sen- 
ate, 2, 318. 



INDEX 



379 



Consular system, in platforms, 2, 50, 

293. 
Contested seats in the Republican con- 
vention of 1912, 2, 242. 
Continental party, convention of, in 

1904, 2, 130. 
Contributions to campaigns by cor- 
porations, in platforms, 2, 149, 180, 

188, 201, 250, 263, 290. 
Conventions, national party: 

Abolition, or Liberty party, in 1839, 
1, 202; in 1843, 216; in 1847, 239; 
in 1852, 253. 

American, in 1888, 1, 480. 

Anti-imperialist League, in 1890, 2, 69. 

Anti-masonic, in 1839, 1, 155. 

Anti-monopoly, in 1884, 1, 421. 

" Barnburners," in 1848, 1, 238. 

Constitutional Union, in 1860, 1, 288. 

Continental party, in 1904, 2, 130. 

Democratic, in 1832, 1, 160; in 1835, 
181; in 1840, 199; in 1844, 211; in 
1848, 232; in 1852, 248; in 1856, 264; 
in 1860, 282; of seceders, 285, 286; 
convention in 1864, 304; in 1868, 
321; in 1872, 349; of "Straight" 
Democrats, 349; convention in 1876, 
374; in 1880, 411; in 1884, 433; in 
1888, 468; in 1892, 498; in 1896, 541; 
in 1900, 2, 56; in 1904, 117; in 1908, 
197; in 1912, 255; in 1915, 350. 

Free Soil, in 1848, 1, 238; in 1852, 253. 

Greenback party, in 1876, 1, 367; in 
1880, 409; in 1884, 423. 

Independence party, in 1908, 2, 199. 

Know Nothing party, in 1856, 1, 261. 

Labor Reformers, in 1872, 1, 335. 
" Liberal Republicans, in 1872, 1, 340. 

Liberty League, in 1848, 1, 232. 

National Democratic, in 1896, 1, 557. 

National Liberty party in 1904, 2, 127. 

National Republican, in 1831, 1, 157; 
of young men, in 1832, 157. 

National party, in 1896, 1, 530. 

National Silver party, in 1896, 1, 555. 

Native American, in 1847, 1, 231; in 
1856, 261. 

People's (Populist) party, in 1892, 1, 
508; in 1896, 550; 

Fusion wing, in 1900, 2, 39; 
Middle-of-the-road wing, in 1900, 
2, 42; in 1904, 114; in 1908, 158. 

Progressive party, in 1912, 3, 285; in 
1916, 346. 



Prohibition party, in 1872, 1, 339; in 
1876, 364; in 1880, 411; in 3884, 
441; in 1888, 465; in 1892, 505; in 
1896, 532; in 1900, 2, 51; in 1904, 
109; in 1908, 169; in 1912, 284; in 
1916, 367. 

Radical Republican, in 1864, 1, 299. 

Republican, in 1856, 1, 269; in 1860, 
290; in 1864, 301; in 1868, 318; in 
1872, 345; in 1876, 368; in 1880, 
402; in 1884, 427; in 1888, 247; in 
1892, 494; in 1896, 532; in 1900, 2, 
45; in 1904, 104; in 1908, 197; in 
1912, 240; in 1916, 340. 

Silver Republican party, in 1900, 2, 
64. 

Socialist party, in 1900, 2, 34; in 1904, 
97; in 1908, 169; in 1912, 276; in 
1916, 360. 

Socialist Labor party, in 1892, 1, 513; 
in 1896, 538; in 1900, 2, 44; in 
1904, 97; in 1908, 182; in 1912, 272; 
in 1916, 339. 

Union Christian party, in 1900, 2, 37; 
in 1904, 103. 

Union and Harmony, in 1839, 1, 194. 

Union Labor, in 1888, 1, 460. 

United Labor party, in 1888, 1, 463. 

United Reform party, in 1900, 2, 36. 

Whig, in 1839, 1, 193; in 1844, 220; in 
1848, 237; in 1852, 250; in 1856, 
273. 
Convention system, the, the first na- 
tional convention, 1, 101; convention 

suggested in Pennsylvania, 1824, 130; 

the system discussed, 166; origin of 

the system, 170; reforms made and 

suggested, 174, 175, 420, 428; 2, 271. 
Cooper, Peter, nominated for President, 

1, 367; popular vote for, 383. 
Copperheads, 1, 298. 
Copyright, 2, 149. 
Corporations, campaign contributions 

by, in platforms, 2, 149, 180, 188, 201, 

223, 250, 263, 290. 
Corregan, Charles H., nominated for 

President, 2, 114. 
Corrupt bargain, alleged, of Henry 

Clay, 1, 138. 
Count of electoral votes. See Elec- 
toral votes. 
Courts and judges, in politics and 

platforms, 2, 62, 116, 160, 175, 223, 

247, 266, 290. 



380 



INDEX 



Cowdrey, Robert H., nominated for 
President, 1, 465; popular votes for, 
483. 

Cox, William W., nominated for Vice- 
President, 2, 114. 

Cranfill, J. B., nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 508. 

Cravens, Jordan E., proposes amend- 
ment of the Constitution, 1, 394. 

Crawford, William H., 1, 98; intrigue 
in favor of, 109 ; favorite of the admin- 
istration, 126; candidate of the cau- 
cus, 131; popular votes for, in 1824, 
136; electoral votes, 140; votes for in 
the House of Representatives, 141; 
suggested for Vice-President, in 1828, 
145; his quarrel with Monroe, 145 
(note). 

Credit Mobllier, 1, 416. 

Creeks. See Cherokees. 

Crittenden, John J., 1, 275, 289. 

Crum, William D., case of, 2, 226. 

Cuba, acquisition of, 1, 261, 272, 284, 
287; the rebellion in, 1895, 520, 536, 
540, 553; 2, 9; attitude of Presidents 
Cleveland and McKinley, 10, 13; ac- 
tion of Congress, 11, 12, 14, 18, 19, 20; 
attitude of parties, 12, 69, 105; gov- 
ernment established, 80; intervention 
by the United States, 146, 177. 

Cummins, Albert B., 2, 253. 

Currency, the, in politics and plat- 
forms. See Greenbacks and Silver. 

Curtis, James L., nominated for Presi- 
dent, 1, 480. 

Cushing, Caleb, 1, 282, 285, 286. 

" Czar," Mr. Speaker Reed as, 1, 488. 

Dallas, George M., 1, 162; nominated 
for Vice-President, 214; elected, 223; 
votes for in 1848, 233. 

Daniel, John W., 2, 119. 

Daniel, William, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 446. 

Danish West Indies, 2, 82, 91. 

Davis, David, nominated for President, 
1, 338; declines, 339; in Liberal Re- 
publican convention, 344; electoral 
vote for, 353; elected senator, 388. 

Davis, Henry G., nominated for Vice- 
President, 2, 126. 

Davis, Henry Winter, on power to 
count electoral votes, 1, 277. 

Davis, Jefferson, 1, 284. 



Dayton, William L., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1,271; in canvass of 
1860, 294. 

Dearborn, Henry A. S., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1, 231. 

Debs, Eugene V., candidate for Presi- 
dent, 1900, 2, 34; popular votes for, 
75; in 1904, 103; popular votes for, 
137; in 1908, 168; popular votes for, 
208; in 1912, 283; popular votes for 
302. 

Debt, public. See Public Debt. 

Defence, national, in platforms, 2, 
342, 348, 353. 

Delaware, appointment of electors by, 
in 1824, 1, 134; adopts popular vote, 
164. 

Delome, Sefior, Spanish ambassador at 
Washington, 2, 14. 

Democratic party (successor of Re- 
publican), convention of 1832, 1, 160; 
of 1835, 181; of 1840, 199; condition of, 
in 1843, 269; convention of 1844, 211; 
of 1848, 232; divisions in the party, 
233; convention of 1852, 248; of 1856, 
264; of 1860, 282; seceders' conven- 
tion, 285, 286; convention of 1S64, 
304; of 1868, 321; of 1872, 349; 
" Straight " Democrats, 349; conven- 
tion of 1876, 374; of 1880, 411; of 1884, 
433; of 1888, 468; of 1892, 498; di- 
vided by the silver question, 526; con- 
vention of 1896, 541; of 1900, 2, 56; of 
1904, 117; of 1908, 162; of 1912, 255; 
of 1916, 350. 

Dickerson, Mahlon, proposes an 
amendment of the Constitution, 1, 
122. 

Dingley tariff. See Tariff. 

Direct vote for President. See Presi- 
dent. 

Disqualified electors. See Electors. 

District system of choosing electors, 1, 
23, 38, 83, 93, 103, 148, 516. 

Disunion, considered or threatened, 1, 
76, 146, 295, 298. 

Divorce laws, uniform, in party plat- 
forms, 2, 111, 197, 284, 371. 

Donelson, Andrew J., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1, 264, 273. 

Donnelly, Ignatius, nominated for 
Vice-President, 2, 42. 

" Doughfaces," origin of the word, 1, 
116. 



INDEX 



381 



Douglas, Stephen A., 1, 247, 258; in 
the canvass of 1856, 264; leader of a 
Democratic faction, 280; debate with 
Lincoln, 281; in convention of I860, 
284; nominated for President, 286; 
popular and electoral votes for, 247; 
supports the Union cause, 298. 

Dow, Neal, nominated for President, 1, 
411; popular votes for, 417. 

Dred Scott decision, 1, 279. 

Earl, Thomas, Abolitionist candidate 
for President, 1, 202. 

Eaton, Mrs. General, 1, 151, 160. 

Eaton, William W., proposes an 
amendment of the Constitution, 1, 396. 

Edmunds, George F., 1, 329, 387, 398, 
402, 407, 408, 427, 432. 

Eight-hour day for labor. See Labor. 

Elections, national interference in, 
1, 304, 401, 413, 498. 

Electoral commission, text of the law 
creating it, 1, 382; its membership, 
387, 392; action of, 388. 

Electoral system, first proposed, 1, 4; 
adopted, 9; the law of 1793, 36; the 
system changed, 11, 12, 80; proposi- 
tions to amend or abolish, 122, 358, 
394, 395, 396, 397. 

Electoral votes, election of 1789, 1, 27; 
of 1792, 39; of 1796, 51 ; of 1800, 63; of 
1804, 84; of 1808, 95; of 1812, 104; of 
1816, 112; of 1820, 121; of 1824, 140; 
of 1828, 149; of 1832, 164; of 1836, 
188; of 1840, 204; of 1844, 223; of 
1848, 243; of 1852, 257; of 1856, 276; 
of 1860, 297; of 1864, 307; of 1868, 
328; of 1872, 353; of 1876, 392; of 1880, 
417; of 1884, 448; of 1888, 483; of 1892, 
517; of 1896, 568; of 1900, 3, 75; of 
1904, 137; of 1908, 208; of 1912, 302. 
count of, in 1789, 1, 29; in 1793, 40; 
in 1797, 51; in 1801, 67; in 1805, 84; in 
1809, 95; in 1817, 112, 113; in 1821, 
120; in 1825, 139; in 1837, 184; in 1857, 
275; in 1861, 296; in 1865, 309; in 1869, 
329; in 1873, 354; in 1877, 382, 399; in 
1881, 418; in 1889, 484; in 1893, 518; 
in 1897, 560; in 1901, 2, 76; in 1905, 
140; in 1909, 212; in 1913, 304. 

rejection of, discussed and exer- 
cised, 1, 64-67, 114, 123, 275, 309, 
354, 388; twenty-second joint rule, 
309; text of, 310; pronounced uncon- 



stitutional, 359; rescinded by the Sen- 
ate, 382; law of 1887, 453. 

time of casting, 1, 36, 453; manner 
of voting, 9, 80; returns of, 9, 36, 80, 
453; determination of contests, 64, 
398, 453. 

Electors, manner of appointing: in 1789, 
1, 21; in 1792, 38; in 1796, 47; in 1800, 
59; in 1804, 83; in 1808, 93; in 1812, 
103; in 1824, 133; in 1832, 164; in 1868, 
327; in 1872, 351 ; in 1876, 380; in 1880, 
418; in 1892, 516, 518. 

time of appointment, first election, 
1, 20; law of 1792, 36; law of 1845. 
242; Wisconsin electors, in 1856, 275; 
Georgia electors, in 1880, 418; law of 
1887, 453. 

official returns of appointment, t, 9, 
36, 80, 453. 

determination of contests by grand 
committee proposed, 1, 64; the Ed- 
munds proposition, 1879, 398; law of 
1887, 453. 

ineligible persons appointed, 1, 185. 
See also Electoral votes, rejection of. 

Ellis, Seth H., candidate for President, 
2,37. 

Ellmaker, Amos, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 157. 

Ellsworth, Oliver, votes for, for Presi- 
dent, in 1796, 1, 51. 

Emancipation, 1, 299, 302. 

Embargo, 1, 89, 97. 

Employers' Liability, in party plat- 
forms, 3, 160, 174, 192, 198, 202, 250, 
267. 

England. See Great Britain. 

English, William H., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1, 415. 

Equal Sights party, New York faction, 
1,228. 

" Era of Good Feelings," t, US, 117. 

Evans, Samuel, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 463. 

Everett, Edward, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 290. 

Expunging resolution, 1, 179. 

Fairbanks, Charles W„ 2, 104, 155; 
nominated for Vice-President, 109; 
elected, 137; votes for, as candidate 
for President, convention of 1908, 181; 
nominated for Vice-President, 1916, 
340. 



382 



INDEX 



Farmers* Alliance, I, 491; platform, in 

1900, 3, 33. 

" Federal thirteen," 1, 61. 

Federalist party, the, at first election, 
1, 24 ; supports Burr against Jefferson, 
69; its attitude during Jefferson's ad- 
ministration, 76; coquets with the 
Clinton faction, 92; supports Pinck- 
ney and King, in 1808, 93; its course 
in the election of 1812, 101; destroyed 
by the success of its own principles, 
106; last appearance in national poli- 
tics, 112; attacked by John Quincy 
Adams, 146. 

Field, James G., nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 513. 

Field, Stephen J., votes for, as candi- 
date for President, in convention of 
1880, 1, 415. 

Fifteenth amendment to the consti- 
tution, enforcement of, 1, 49, 108, 175. 

Fillmore, Millard, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 238; elected, 243; be- 
comes President, 246; in canvass of 
1852, 247; nominated in 1856 by 
Americans, 264; by Whigs, 273; popu- 
lar and electoral votes for, 276. 

Finley, Ebenezer B., proposes an 
amendment to the Constitution, 1, 
396. 

First election, ordered by Congress, 1, 
20. 

First national convention, in 1812, 1, 
101. 

Fisk, Clinton B,, nominated for Presi- 
dent, 1, 468; popular votes for, 483. 

Fitzpatrick, Benjamin, nominated for 
Vice-President and declined, 1, 286. 

Five-twenty bonds. See Bonds. 

Florida, admitted to the Union, 1, 242; 
electors of, appointed by the legisla- 
ture, in 1868, 327; vote in 1876 dis- 
puted, 381, 388. 

Floyd, John, on vote of Missouri, in 
1821, 1, 120; votes for, as President, 
in 1832, 164. 

Foote, Charles E., nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 232. 

Foraker, Joseph B., votes for, as candi- 
date for President in 1908, 2, 181. 

" Force Bill," 1, 490, 495, 498. 

Forest reserves, in platforms, 3, 151, 
176, 195, 204, 294. 

Foss, Eugene N., 3, 234, 255, 259. 



Fourth of March, beginning of presi- 
dential term, 1, 29, 38. 

France, relations with, as affecting poli- 
tics, 1, 33, 41, 46. 

Franklin, Benjamin, suggested for 
President, 1, 26. 

" Fraud of 18?6," in politics and plat- 
forms, 1, 413, 416, 435. 

" Free ballot and fair count," in poli- 
tics and platforms, 1, 413, 432, 437, 
473, 495, 498, 512, 536, 554. 

Free homesteads. See Land, public 

Free-masonry, a political issue, 1, 144, 
155. 

Free ships and navigation laws. See 
Navigation laws. 

Free silver, in politics and platforms. 
See Silver. 

Free-soil party, convention of 1848, 1, 
238; of 1852, 253. 

Free trade, in politics and platforms. 
See Tariff. 

Freedmen*s Bureau, 1, 315, 323. 

Frelinghuysen, Theodore, nomin- 
ated for Vice-President, 1, 223. 

Fremont, John C, nominated for 
President, 1, 264, 270; popular and 
electoral votes for, 276; nominated in 
1864, but withdraws, 301. 

French Revolution, its influence on 
American politics, 1, 33, 41, 46. 

Freneau, Philip, 1, 34. 

Fugitive-slave law, 1, 245, 249, 252. 
254, 284, 287. 

Fuller, Melville W., Chief Justice, 2, 
76, 140, 213. 

Funding system, Hamilton's, 1, 42. 

Fusion, in 1860, 1, 296; in 1880, 417; in 
1892, 515; in 1896, 564. 

Gallatin, Albert, nominated by caucus 
for Vice-President, 1, 131; withdraws, 
132. 

Garfield, James A., 1, 387, 402, 407; 
nominated for President, 408 ; assaults 
upon, 415; eleeted, 417; assassination 
of, 419. 

Genet, " Citizen," French minister, 
interferes in American politics, 1, 42. 

Georgia, vote of, in 1868, 1, 327, 329, 
331; votes, in 1872, for Greeley re- 
jected, 354; its vote in 1880, 418. 

Gerry, Elbridge, proposes choice of 
electors by State governors, 1, 4; plan 



INDEX 



383 



of apportioning electors, 5; votes for 
John Adams, 48; nominated for Vice- 
President, 99; adds a word to the Eng- 
lish language, 104; elected, 104. 

Gillhaus, August, nominated for Presi- 
dent, 2, 182; popular votes for, 208; 
nominated for Vice-President, 276. 

Gold standard, established by Act of 
1900, 2, 29; endorsed by Republicans, 
47; condemned by Democrats, 62; by 
Silver Republicans, 65; other refer- 
ences, 72, 105, 119, 125, 249. See also 
Silver. 

Gorman, Arthur P., 1, 505. 

Graham, William A., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1, 251; in canvass of 
1860, 289. 

Granger, Francis, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 183. 

Grant, Ulysses S., 1, 303, 315, 316; 
nominated for President, 320; elected, 
328; condemned by Liberal Republi- 
cans, 341; nominated for reelection, 
348; reelected, 352; on third term, 
360; vetoes the " inflation " bill, 366; 
movement in his favor in 1880, 402, 
407, 408. 

Graves, John T., nominated for Vice- 
President, 2, 206. 

Gray, George, 2, 125, 155, 182, 186, 
196. 

Gray, Isaac P., 1, 505. 

Great Britain, relations with, as affect- 
ing politics, 1, 43, 87, 97, 482; 2, 79. 

Greeley, Horace, on Know-Nothing 
party, 1, 260; opposes Mr. Seward, 
290; opposes General Grant, 334; in 
canvass of 1872, 340; nominated for 
President, 344, 349; dies before the 
election, 351; popular votes for, 352; 
electoral votes for, 353; such votes 
objected to and rejected, 354. 

Greenback party, convention of 1876, 
1, 367; of 1880, 409; of 1884, 423. 

Greenbacks, payment of bonds with, 
1, 316, 322; volume of issue of, 365, 
409, 429. 

Greer, James B., nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 480. 

Groesbeck, William S., electoral votes 
for in 1872, 1, 353. 

Habeas Corpus, suspension of the writ, 
1, 298, 300, 323. 



Hadley, Herbert S., 2, 254. 

Hague conference, in party platform, 

2, 50. 
Hale, Eugene, 2, 12, 32, 225. 
Hale, John P., nominated for Presi- 
dent, but withdraws, 1, 232; nomi- 
nated in 1852, 253; popular votes for, 
257. 
" Half-breed," a faction of the Repub- 
lican party, 1, 419. 

Hamilton, Alexander, on the electoral 
system, 1, 2; proposes choice of elec- 
tors by the people, 4, 5; decides to 
support John Adams, in 1789, 25; his 
supposed intrigue against Adams, 25; 
antagonism with Jefferson, 32; his 
funding system, 42; not a candidate 
for President, 44; his course in the 
canvass of 1796, 49; his influence upon 
the members of Adams's cabinet, 54; 
opposes Federalist support of Burr, 70; 
opposes Federalist disunion intrigue, 
76; proposes amendment of the Con- 
stitution, 78; his view of the powers of 
the Supreme Court, 2, 305; on the 
power of removal from office, 310; on 
the veto power, 320, 325. 

Hamlin, Hannibal, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 295; elected, 297; in the 
canvass of 1864, 303; presides over the 
count of 1865, 311; in the canvass of 
1868, 321. 

Hancock, John, suggested for Vice- 
President, 1, 24; votes for, in 1789, 27; 
protests against the law of 1792, 39. 

Hancock, W infield S., 1, 321, 325, 363; 
nominated for President, 415; popular 
and electoral votes for, 417. 

Hanford, Benjamin, nominated for 
Vice-President, 2, 103, 168. 

Hanly, J. Frank, nominated for Presi- 
dent, 2, 367. 

Hanna, Marcus A., considered as op- 
posing candidate to Roosevelt, 2, 95. 

" Hard cider " campaign, 1, 190. 

" Hards," Democratic faction in New 
York, 1, 264, 282. 

Harmon, Judson, 2, 255, 259. 

Harper, Jesse, 1, 427. 

Harper, Robert G., votes for as Vice- 
President, in 1816, 1, 112; in 1820, 121. 

Harriman, Job, nominated for Vice- 
President, 2, 34. 

Harris, William A., 2, 126. 



384 



INDEX 



Harrison, Benjamin, nominated for 
President, 1, 479; elected (popular 
and electoral votes) , 483 ; his adminis- 
tration, 486, 492; nominated for re- 
election, 1892, 497; popular and elec- 
toral votes for, 517. 

Harrison, Caleb, nominated for Vice- 
President, 2, 339. 

Harrison, Robert H., votes for in 1789, 
1, 27. 

Harrison, William H., suggested for 
Vice-President, 1828, 1, 145; nomi- 
nated for President in 1836, 183; popu- 
lar votes for, 185; electoral votes for, 
188; Whig candidate in 1840, 195; 
takes the stump, 202; popular votes 
for, 203; elected, 204; his inaugura- 
tion, 205; dies, 207. 

Hartford Convention, 1, 106. 

Hawaii, treaty of annexation with- 
drawn by Mr. Cleveland, 1, 519; the 
question of, in politics and platforms, 
525, 546, 553; annexed, 3, 21; policy 
respecting, 68, 70. 

Hay-Pauncefote treaty, 2, 62, 179. 

Hayes, Rutherford B., 1, 363, 368; 
nominated for President, 373; popular 
votes for, 383; declared elected, 393; 
his administration, 400. 

Hearst, William R., 2, 96, 123, 154, 
157, 199. 

Hendricks, Thomas A., 1, 325, 330; 
votes for, as President, in 1872, 353; 
nominated for Vice-President, 379; in 
canvass of 1880, 412, 415; again nomi- 
nated, 441; elected, 448; death in 
office, 472. 

Henry, John, votes for, in 1796, 1, 51. 

High cost of living, in platforms, 2, 
225, 249, 261, 291, 343, 348, 366. 

Hill, David B., 1, 492, 493, 505, 542, 
548, 549; 2, 57, 64. 

Hisgen, Thomas, nominated for Presi- 
dent, 2, 206. 

Hoar, George F., 2, 32. 

Hobart, Garret A., nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 538; elected, 567, 568. 

Homesteads, free, in politics and plat- 
forms. See Land, public. 

Hours of labor, in politics and plat- 
forms, 1, 370, 410, 422, 425, 462, 464, 
512, 513, 540; 2, 36, 115, 160, 167, 174, 
192, 202, 264, 291; considered by Con- 
gress, 2, 149, 180. 



House of Representatives, election of 
President by, 1, 9, 11, 71, 140; general 
debate and modern system of proce- 
dure in, 2, 4. 

Houston, Samuel, 1, 248, 288. 

Howard, John E., suggested for Presi- 
dent, 1, 111; votes for as Vice-Presi- 
dent, in 1816, 112. 

Howe, Archibald M., nominated for 
Vice-President, declines, 2, 72. 

Hughes, Charles E„ 2, 155, 181, 227, 
253; appointed a justice of the Su- 
preme Court, 229; his theory of the 
power of the Executive, 331; nomi- 
nated for President, 340. 

" Hunkers," Democratic faction, 1, 229. 

Huntington, Samuel, votes for, in 
1789, 1, 27. 

Hurst, Elmore W., 2, 271. 

Idaho, admitted to the Union, 1, 518. 

Illinois, admitted to the Union, 1, 118. 

Immigration, restriction of, in politics 
and platforms, 1, 303, 320, 371, 401, 
405, 410, 414, 419, 430, 438, 444, 462, 
467, 474, 481, 496, 502, 506, 512, 531, 
536, 544; 2, 48, 68, 160, 195, 204, 223, 
252, 370; Chinese, in particular, 1, 
336, 469; Japanese, 2, 147. 

Impressment of American seamen, 1, 
87, 88. 

Income tax, in politics and platforms, 
1, 410, 422, 425, 431, 462, 511, 514, 
540, 544, 552; 2, 33, 40, 43, 65, 167, 
191, 197, 262, 281, 285. 

Independence League, 2, 154, 157. 

Independence party, convention of 
1908, 2, 199. 

Independent Treasury, 1, 192, 207, 
227. 

Indiana, admitted to the Union, 1, 112; 
disputed votes of in 1817, 113. 

Informalities, in certificates of electors, 

1, 85; of Massachusetts electors, 1808, 
94; suspected, in 1824, 137. 

Ingersoll, Jared, Federalist candidate 
for Vice-President, 1, 102; votes for, 
in 1812, 104. 

" Initiative," In legislation, 1, 513; 

2, 34, 36, 43, 66, 111, 116, 132, 160, 
168, 200, 282, 285, 289; 364. 

" Injunction, government by," 1, 
545, 554; 2, 62, 116, 160, 168, 175, 
180, 192, 201, 264, 267, 282, 290, 365. 



INDEX 



385 



Insurance, against sickness, etc., in 

platforms, 2, 36, 157. 
Insurgents and insurgency, 2, 152, 218. 
Internal improvements, in politics 

and platforms, 1, 115, 143, 154, 158, 

200, 241, 252, 255, 273, 294. 
Interstate commerce. See Railroads, 

regulation of. 
Intervention, between Spain and the 

United States, proposed, 2, 16. 
Intoxicating liquor, in politics and 

platforms, 1, 339, 364, 426, 441, 443, 

466, 505, 529, 530; 2, 52, 110, 197, 2S4, 

367. 
Iowa admitted to the Union, 1, 242. 
Iredell, James, votes for, in 1796, 1, 51. 
Irregularities. See Informalities. 
Irrigation of arid lands, in platforms, 2, 

49, 63, 67, 106, 121, 194, 205, 251, 285. 

Jackson, Andrew, candidate for Presi- 
dent, in 1824, 1, 126; popular votes 
for, 136; electoral votes for, 136; votes 
for, in House of Representatives, 141 ; 
becomes a candidate in 1828, 144; 
popular votes for, 148; elected, 149; 
inaugurated, 150; his war on the 
United States Bank, 153, 162; forces 
the nomination of Van Buren, 160; re- 
elected, 164; his popularity, 179; his 
open opposition to Hugh L. Whit^, 
181; at Van Buren's inauguration, 189; 
his use of the power of removal from 
office, 2, 312; his use of the veto power, 
321. 

Jacobins, opprobrious name of Demo- 
crats, 1, 74. 

James, Ollie M., 2, 257, 258. 

Japan, relations with, 2, 148. 

Japanese immigration, in platforms, 
2, 42, 63; agitation in San Francisco, 
147. 

Jay, John, votes for, in 1789, 1, 27; 
British treaty, 43; votes for, in 1790, 
51; in 1800, 63. 

Jefferson, Thomas, antagonism with 
Hamilton, 1, 32; votes for, in 1792, 39; 
leader of the Republican party, 44; 
attacked by " Phocion," 45, 49, 
elected Vice-President, 51; votes for, 
in 1800, 63; elected by the House of 
Representatives, 72; his inauguration, 
73; his course in office, 74, 77; nomi- 
nated by the caucus for reelection, 82; 



reelected, 84; rejects Monroe's treaty, 
88; induces Monroe to withdraw, 92; 
advocates acquisition of Cuba, 2, 9. 

Jenkins, Charles J., votes for, as 
President, in 1872, 1, 353. 

Johnson, Andrew, 1. 284; nominated 
for Vice-President, 303; elected, 307; 
becomes President, 313; features of his 
administration, 313; contest with Con- 
gress and impeachment, 315; de- 
nounced by Republican convention, 
319; in the canvass of 1868, 321; 
praised by Democrats, 325; his use of 
the power of removal from office, 2, 
313; his use of the veto power, 324. 

Johnson, Hale, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 530. 

Johnson, Herschel V., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1, 286. 

Johnson, Hiram W., 2, 285; nominated 
for Vice-President, 298. 

Johnson, John A., 2, 154, 186, 196. 

Johnson, Richard M., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1, 182; electoral votes 
for, 188; elected by the Senate, 187; 
opposition to, in 1840, 198; not nomi- 
nated for reelection, 201; electoral 
votes for, in 1S40, 204; candidate for 
President, in 1844, 208; votes for in 
the convention, 212. 

Johnston, William F., nominated for 
Vice-President, in 1S56, by the Ameri- 
can party, 1, 264; not adopted by the 
Republicans, 271. 

Joint Rule, the twenty-second. See 
Electoral system. 

Julian, George W„ nominated for 
Vice-President, 1, 253; in canvass of 
1872, 338, 344; electoral votes for, 352. 

Kansas, the contest over, 1, 258, 260, 
268, 272, 279, 292. 

Kent, Chancellor, on removals from 
office, 2, 310. 

Kentucky admitted to the Union, 1, 38; 
its legislature nominates Clay, 126; 
contest in 1S96 between Gold and Sil- 
ver factions, 526; electoral vote di- 
vided, 567. 

Kern, John W., nominated for Vice- 
President, 2, 197; in the canvass of 
1912, 256, 258. 

King, Leicester, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 232. 



INDEX 



King, Rufus, 1, 34; Federalist candi- 
date for Vice-President in 1804, 84; in 
1808, 95; opposes coalition with Clin- 
tonians, in 1812, 101; votes for, for 
President, in 1816, 112. 

King, William R., 1, 199, 234; nomi- 
nated for Vice-President, in 1848, 249; 
elected, 257. 

Klrkpatrick, George R., nominated 
for Vice-President, 2, 360. 

" Kitchen Cabinet," the, 1, 152, 154, 
159. 

" Know-Nothing " order and party, 1, 
259; convention of 1856, 261. 

Knox, General Henry, suggested for 
Vice-President, 1, 24. 

Knox, Philander C, 2, 156, 180. 

Kremer, George, charge by, against 
Henry Clay, 1, 138. 

Ku-Klux-Klan, the, 1, 333. 

Kyle, James H., 1, 513. 

Labor questions, in politics and plat- 
forms, 1, 325, 337, 347, 350, 409, 414, 
422, 426, 430, 437, 441, 462, 503, 512, 
531, 540; 2, 35, 44, 62, 102, 113, 116, 
160, 167, 174, 192, 201, 246, 267, 272, 
281, 285, 291, 345, 360, 366, 371. 

Labor Reformers, party of, conven- 
tion of 1872, 1, 335. 

La Follette, Robert E., 2, 156, 181, 234, 
235, 236. 253. 

Land, public, questions relating to, in 
politics and platforms, 1, 154, 179, 
215, 221, 236, 255, 293, 324, 336, 344, 
347, 350, 371, 377, 410, 423, 425, 430, 
437, 438, 444, 461, 463, 469, 474, 500, 
506, 512, 514, 531, 536, 540, 553; 2, 
159, 222, 268, 294. 

Landrith, Ira D., nominated for Vice- 
President, 2, 367. 

Lane, Joseph, 1, 248, 284; nominated 
for Vice-President, 285, 287; popular 
and electoral votes for, 297. 

Langdon, John, .presides over the first 
count, 1, 29; votes for, as Vice-Presi- 
dent, in 1808, 95; nominated for Vice- 
President, in 1812, but declines, 99. 

Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, Canadian states- 
man, 2, 231. 

Lecompton Constitution, for Kan- 
sas, 1, 279, 292. 

Lee, Fitzhugh, 2, 15, 17. 

Legal-tender notes. See Greenbacks. 



Legislatures, State, as nominating 
bodies for the presidency, 1, 168. 

Leonard, Jonah F. R., 2, 37. 

Levering, Joshua, 1, 508 nominated 
for President, 530; popular votes for, 
567. 

Lewis, James H., 2, 258. 

Liberal Republicans, origin of the 
party, 1, 335; convention in 1872, 240. 

Liberty League, convention of 1848, 1, 
232. 

Liberty party. See Abolitionists. 

" Lily white " Republicans, 1, 516. 

Lincoln, Abraham, 1, 271; the debate 
with Douglas, 281; in the canvass of 
1860, 290; nominated for President, 
294; elected, 297; his administration, 
299; nominated in 1864, 303; elected, 
307; his reconstruction plan, 309, 313; 
assassinated, 313. 

Lincoln, Benjamin, vote for in 1789, 
1, 27. 

Liquor, intoxicating, as a political is- 
sue, 1, 339, 364, 411, 441, 442, 466, 505, 
529; 2, 38, 52, 104, 110, 197, 284. 

" Little Magician," the (Van Buren), 
1, 191. 

" Loco-focos," Democratic faction in 
New York, 1, 228. 

Log cabin and hard cider campaign, 
1, 190. 

Logan, John A., 1, 427; nominated for 
Vice-President, 432; popular and 
electoral votes for, 448. 

Louisiana, purchase of, 1, 75; admitted 
to the Union, 103; frauds in Plaque- 
mines Parish, in 1844, 16, 224; vote of 
the State in 1864, rejected, 311; vote 
in 1868 objected to but admitted, 330; 
returning boards, 351, 381; vote in 
1872 disputed and not counted, 354; 
vote of 1876 contested before the Elec- 
toral Commission, 381, 389. 

Lyon, James, nominated for President 
and declined, 1, 350. 

Lynching, in a party platform, 2, 127. 

Machen, Willis B., votes for, for Vice- 
President, in 1872, 1, 353. 

McClellan, George B., 1, 299; nomi- 
nated for President, 305; his construc- 
tion of the Democratic platform, 306; 
popular and electoral votes for, 307. 

McCombs, William F., 2, 271. 



INDEX 



387 



McGovern, Francis E., 2, 242. 

McKinley, William, the " McKinley 
Bill," 1, 489, 499, 524; votes for, as 
candidate for President, in 1892, 497; 
in the canvass of 1896, 527, 532; nomi- 
nated for President, 538; his course 
during the canvass, 564; elected, 566; 
popular votes for, 567; electoral votes 
for, 568; urges revision of the tariff, 
2, 2; his attitude on the Cuban rebel- 
lion, 13; efforts to maintain peace 
with Spain, 16; message which led to 
war, 17; nominated for reelection, 51; 
reelected, 75; his journeys, 83; advo- 
cates reciprocity, 84; assassinated, 85; 
tributes to his memory by the Repub- 
lican convention of 1904, 108. 

Maclay, William, 2, 308, 310. 

McLean, John, considered as a candi- 
date for President, in 1830, 1, 156; 
nominated for President, in 1836, 183; 
in the canvass of 1848, 230; votes for, 
in Whig convention, 237; in conven- 
tions of 1856, 264, 270; in the canvass 
of 1860, 289, 294. 

Macon, Nathaniel, proposes amend- 
ment to the Constitution, 1, 122; votes 
for, as Vice-President, in 1824, 140. 

Madison, James, 1, 6; nominated for 
President, in 1808, 91; elected, 95; 
his inauguration, 96; his administra- 
tion, 97; yields to war party, 98; 
elected for a second term, 104; on the 
danger of legislative usurpation, 2, 
306; on the veto power, 320; his use 
of the veto, 321. 

" Magician, the little " (Van Buren), 
1, 191. 

Maguire, Matthew, nominated for 
Vice President, 1, 541. 

Maine, admitted to the Union, 1, 118; 
liquor law, 339. 

Maine, battleship, destruction of, 2, 14. 

Maish, Levi, proposes an amendment 
to the Constitution, 1, 396. 

Mangum, Willie P., votes for, for 
President, in 1836, 1, 188. 

March 4th, beginning of presidential 
term, 1, 29, 38. 

Marcy, William L., 1, 153, 247, 261; 
enunciates the theory of the " spoils " 
system, 2, 312. 

Marshall, Humphrey, on the power to 
count electoral votes, 1, 277. 



Marshall, John, his plan for deciding 
disputed electoral votes, 1, 66; votes 
for, as Vice-President, in 1816, 112; 
attends Anti-masonic convention, 156. 

Marshall, Thomas R., 2, 255, 259; 
nominated for Vice-President, 271; 
elected, 302; nominated for reelection, 
350. 

Martin, David H., 2, 37. 

Maryland, last State to abandon the 
district electoral system, 1, 164. 

Mason, James M., on the electoral 
votes of Wisconsin, 1, 215. 

Mason, John Y., 1, 261. 

Massachusetts, plan of choosing elec- 
tors, in 1789, 1, 23; in 1792, 38; by the 
legislature, in 1800, 60; defeat of Fed- 
eralists, in 1804, 84; choice of electors 
in 1808, 93; in 1812, 103; in the Hart- 
ford Convention, 107. 

Matchett, Charles H., nominated for 
Vice-President, in 1892, 1, 513; nomi- 
nated for President, in 1896, 541; pop- 
ular votes for, 567. 

Maximum and Minimum rates of 
duty, 2, 173, 220, 229. 

Meat inspection, 2, 149. 

Merchant marine, encouragement of, 
in platforms, 2, 49, 63, 107, 122, 177, 
192, 251, 268, 344, 349. 

Merriam, Charles E., 2, 254. 

Metcalf, Henry B., nominated for 
Vice-President, 2, 56. 

Mexico, and Texas, 1, 226; war with, in 
politics and platforms, 227, 230, 234, 
249; relations with, 341, 355, 369. 

Michigan, admitted to the Union, 1, 
184; votes of, how counted, in 1837, 
187; an elector of, objected to in 1877, 
390; electors chosen by districts, in 
1892, 516. 

" Middle-of-the-road " Populists, 1, 
550. 

Military interference, in elections. 
See Elections. 

Mills, Roger Q., the " Mills Bill," 1, 
459, 468, 471, 479, 482; resolution on 
Cuba, 2, 37. 

Milton, John, votes for, in 1789, 1, 37. 

Mines, public ownership of, 2, 36, 104, 
167, 280, 366. 

Minnesota, admitted to the Union, 1, 
296. 

Minority Presidents, 1, 17. 



388 



INDEX 



Mississippi, admitted to the Union, 1, 
118; votes of, in 1872, objected to, but 
counted, 354. 
Mississippi river, improvement of, in 

platforms, 2, 251, 266. 
Missouri, question of admission to the 
Union, 1, 116, 118; controversy over 
its vote in 1820, 118; its vote in 1872, 
354. 
Missouri Compromise, repeal of, 1, 

260, 271. 
Mitchell, John L., 1, 505. 
Monopolies. See Trusts. 
Monroe Doctrine, in politics and plat- 
forms, 1, 268, 300, 303, 476, 496, 520, 
538, 546; 2, 50, 60, 107, 109, 123, 264, 
342, 355, 362, 369; application to the 
Spanish situation, 7; to the Venezuelan 
question, 91. 
Monroe, James, diplomatic services 
abroad, 1, 86, 88; candidate for Presi- 
dent, in 1808, 89, 90; persuaded to 
withdraw, 93; votes for, as Vice- 
President, in 1808, 95; opposition to, 
in 1816, 108; nominated for President, 
109; elected, 112; inauguration, 114; 
reelected, 118; second inauguration, 
120. 
Montana, admitted to the Union, 1, 487. 
Morey letter, 1, 416. 
Morgan, John T., advocate of the Nica- 
ragua Canal, 2, 68. 
Morris, Gouverneur, 1, 3, 6, 12, 34, 58, 
78, 83, 101, 111; his plan of a Council 
of State, 2, 309; his opinion on the 
veto power, 320. 
Morris, Thomas, Abolitionist candi- 
date for Vice-President, 1, 216. 
Morrison, William R., his tariff bill, 
1, 458; votes for, as candidate for 
President, 415, 505. 
Morse, Allen P., 1, 505. 
Morton, Levi P., nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 479; elected, 483; in the 
canvass of 1896, 527; votes for as can- 
didate for President, 538. 
Morton, Oliver P., proposes an amend- 
ment to the Constitution, 1, 358; can r 
didate for nomination as President, 
361, 368, 373; member of the Elec- 
toral Commission, 387. 
" Mugwumps," or independent Repub- 
licans, 1, 410, 432, 446, 457; denounced 
by Republican convention, 477. 



Munro, Donald E., nominated for 

Vice-President, 2, 182. 
Murchison, Charles F. (fictitious 

name), letter to Lord Sackville, 1, 482. 
Murphy, Franklin, 3, 181. 

" Narrow gauge " Prohibitionists, 1, 

528. 
National Banks. See Banks. 
National Democratic party (of 1896), 
origin of, 1, 550, 557; convention, 558. 
National Liberty party, convention of 

1904, 2, 127. 
National party. See Greenback party. 
National Republican party, conven- 
tion of, in 1831, 1, 157; fusion with 
Anti-masons, 163; merged with the 
Whig party, 180. 
National Republican Progressive 

League, 2, 233. 
National Silver party, convention of 

1896, 1, 555. 
Native American party, 1, 231; revi- 
val of, 259; convention in 1856, 261; 
condemned by Democratic conven- 
tion, 266. 
Naturalization, 2, 149. 
Navigation laws and free ships, in plat- 
forms, 1, 414, 431, 439, 476, 496, 534, 
559. 
Navy, enlargement of, in platforms, 2, 

342, 348, 353, 363, 368. 
Nebraska, act to admit to the Union, 
vetoed, 1, 315; admitted, 327; an elec- 
tor objected to, in 1877, 390. 
Nevada, an elector objected to, in 1877, 

1, 390. 
New Hampshire, choice of electors in 

1789, 1, 22. 
New Jersey, its peculiar choice of elec- 
tors in 1804, 1, 94; extraordinary pro- 
ceedings in, in 1812, 103; vote divided, 
in 1860, 297. 
New Mexico, admitted to the Union, 2, 

223, 270. 
New York, its great influence in poli- 
tics, 1, 15, 59, 229, 447, 449; party 
warfare and factions in, 23, 86, 100, 
228, 419; loses its vote in 1789, 23; 
decided the election of 1800, 59; in the 
contest of 1824, 128, 129, 135; in the 
Democratic convention of 1848, 228, 
232; its popular vote in 1868, 329; in 
1884, 449. See also Tammany Hall. 



INDEX 



Nicaragua Canal. See Canal, Isth- 
mian. 

Nicholson, Samuel T., 2, 37. 

North Carolina, peculiar appointment 
of electors in, in 1792, 1, 38; electors 
appointed by the legislature, in 1812, 
103, 122. 

North Dakota, admitted to the Union, 
1, 487. 

Nullification, 1, 154. 

Objections to electoral votes. See 

Electoral Votes, rejection of. 

O'Conor, Charles, 1, 305, 339; nomi- 
nated for President, 350; popular 
votes for, 352. 

Official returns of elections, discrep- 
ancies in, 1, 484, 516, 568. 

Ohio, admitted to the Union, 1, 83. 

Oklahoma, admission of, to the Union, 
advocated in platforms, 2, 49, 62, 67, 
122; admitted, 143. 

Olney, Richard, 2, 12, 124. 

Orders in Council, British, 1, 88. 

Oregon, the State of, admitted to the 
Union, 296; electoral vote of, in 1876, 
381, 390. 

Oregon question, the, 1, 215, 228. 

Osborne, John E., 2, 271. 

Ostend Manifesto, 1, 261, 272; 2, 9. 

Over-capitalization of corporations, 
in platforms, 2, 149. 

Pacific Railroad, the, in platforms, 1, 

273, 283, 287, 294, 303. 
Palmer, John M., 1, 321, 338, 340; 

electoral votes for, as Vice-President, 
in 1872, 353; nominated for President, 
561 ; popular votes for, 567. 

Panama, revolution in, and secession 
from Colombia, 2, 89, 109. 

Panama Canal. See Canal, Isthmian. 

Panama mission, opposed by Adams's 
political enemies, 1, 143. 

Pan-American conference, in 1906, 2, 
146, 177, 195, 355. 

Panic, financial, of 1837, 1, 191; of 
1873, 357. 

Parcel post, advocated in platforms, 2, 
251, 270, 297, 351. 

Parker, Alton B., 2, 96 ; 117; nominated 
for President, 123; his declaration on 
the gold standard, 125; in the can- 
vass of 1904, 133; in the convention of 



1908, 183; elected temporary chair- 
man of the convention of 1912, 256. 

Parker, Joel, 1, 325; nominated for 
Vice-President, 338; declines, 339; 
in the canvass of 1876, 379. 

Parker, John M., nominated for Vice- 
President, 2, 346. 

" Parting of the ways," 2, 232. 

Patent-law, reform of, 2, 281, 293. 

Pauncefote, Sir Julian (Lord), Brit- 
ish ambassador at Washington, 2, 16. 

Payne-Aldrich tariff bill, 2, 219, 229. 

Payne, Henry B., 1, 415. 

Pendleton, George H., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1, 305; popular and 
electoral votes for, 307; in the can- 
vass of 1868, 316, 321, 325. 

Pennsylvania, its influence in politics, 
1, 15,60,86,92,93, 100,275; appoint- 
ment of electors in 1800, 60; its vote 
in 1876, 390. 

Pensions, in politics and platforms, 1, 
302, 320, 324, 347, 371, 405, 426, 430, 
436, 462, 476, 502, 507, 512, 531, 535, 
545, 554, 561; 2, 49, 66, 68, 72, 107, 
111, 123, 177, 193, 297. 

People's party (Populists), origin of, 

1, 491; convention of 1892, 508; of 
1896, 550; fusion, on electors, -with. 
Democrats, 564; fusionist wing, con- 
vention of 1900, 2, 39; Middle-of-the- 
road wing, convention of 1900, 42; of 
1904, 114; of 1908, 158. 

Philippine Islands, become American 
territory, 2, 23; insurrection in, 24; 
suppressed, in 1901, 77, 105; attitude 
of parties relative to the acquisition 
and retention of, 24, 31, 41, 50, 59, 68, 
70, 120, 132, 149, 177, 195, 252, 342, 
364, 370. See also Anti-imperialism. 

Pickens, Israel, proposes an amend- 
ment to the constitution, 1, 122. 

Pickering, Timothy, 1, 54. 

Pierce, Franklin, nominated for Presi- 
dent, 1, 248; elected, 257; his atti- 
tude on the slavery question, 260; in 
the Democratic convention of* 1856, 
264, 265; his theory of the veto power, 

2, 323. 

Pinchot, Gifford, 2, 220. 

Pinckney, Charles, plan of, for an 

Executive, 1, 2. 
Pinckney, Charles C, votes for in 

1796, 1, 51; minister to France, 56; 



390 



INDEX 



refuses to be a party to a treacherous 

coalition, 62; votes for in 1800, 63; 

candidate of Federalists for President, 

in 1804, 83; votes for, in 1804, 84; in 

1808, 95. 
Pinckney, Thomas, candidate for 

Vice-President, 1, 44; votes for, in 

1796, 51. 
Pipe-lines as common carriers, 2, 222. 
Plaquemines Parish, frauds in, 1, 16, 

224. 
Platforms, party: 

Abolition, or Liberty party, in 1843, 
1, 216. 

American, in 1888, 1, 480. 

Anti-imperialists, in 1900, 2, 68. 

Anti-imperialist League, in 1900, 2, 
69. 

Anti-monopoly, in 1888, 1, 422. 

Barnburners, in 1848, 1, 239. 

Constitutional Union, in 1860, 1, 289. 

Continental party, in 1904, 2, 129. 

Democratic party, in 1840, 1, 199; in 
1844, 215; in 1848, 234; in 1852, 249; 
in 1856, 266; in 1860 (Douglas wing), 
283; (Breckinridge wing), 287; in 
1864, 304; in 1868, 322; in 1872, 
349; (" Straight " Democrats), 349; 
in 1876, 374; in 1880, 413; in 1884, 
434; in 1888, 468; in 1892, 498; in 
1896, 542; in 1900, 2, 58; in 1904, 
119; in 1908, 186; in 1912, 260; 
in 1916, 350. 

Farmers' Alliance, in 1900, 2, 33. 

Free Soil, in 1848, 1, 239; in 1852, 253. 

Greenback party, in 1876, 1, 367; in 
1880, 409; in 1884, 423. 

Independence party, in 1908, 2, 199. 

"Know Nothing" party, in 1856, 1, 261. 

Labor Reformers, in 1872, 1, 336. 

Liberal Republicans, in 1872, 1, 341. 

National party, in 1896, 1, 530. 

National Democratic party, in 1896, 
1, 558. 

National Liberty party, in 1904, 2, 
127. 

National Silver party, in 1896, 1, 555. 

Native American party, in 1856, 1, 
261. 

People's party (Populist), in 1892, 1, 
509; in 1896, 542; in 1900 (Fusion 
wing), 2, 39; (Middle-of-the-road 
wing), in 1900, 43; in 1904, 115; in 
1908, 159. 



Progressive party, in 1912, 2, 288; in 
1916, 346. 

Prohibition party, in 1872, 1, 339; in 
1876, 364; in 1880, 411; in 1884, 
441; in 1888, 466; in 1892, 505; in 
1896, 529; in 1900, 2, 52; in 1904, 
110; in 1908, 197; in 1912, 284; in 
1916, 367. 

Prohibition-Home- Protection party, 
in 1884, 1, 442. 

Radical Republican party, in 1864, 1, 
300. 

Republican party, in 1856, 1, 271; in 
1860, 291; in 1864, 301; in 1868, 
318; in 1872, 346; in 1876, 369; in 
1880, 403; in 1884, 428; in 1888, 
472; in 1892, 494; in 1896, 533; in 
1900, 2, 46; in 1904, 104; in 1908, 
170; in 1912, 245; in 1916, 346. 

Silver-Republican party, in 1900, 2, 
64. 

Socialist party, in 1900, 2, 34; in 1904, 
98; in 1908, 162; in 1912, 277; in 
1916, 360. 

Socialist Labor party, in 1892, 1, 513; 
in 1896, 539; in 1900, 2, 44; in 1904, 
97; in 1908, 182; in 1912, 272; in 
1916, 339. 

Union Labor party, in 1888, 1, 461. 

United Christian party, in 1900, 2, 37; 
in 1904, 103. 

United Labor, in 1888, 1, 463. 

United Reform party, in 1900, 1, 37. 

Whig party, in 1844, 1, 220; in 1852, 
251; in 1856, 273. 

Young Men's National Republican 
party, in 1832, 1, 158. 
Piatt amendment, regulating rela- 
tions with Cuba, 2, 81. 
Pocket veto, 1, 179, 317; 2, 323, 324. 
Polk, James K., vote for, as Vice- 
President, in 1840, 1, 204; nominated 

for President, in 1844, 213; elected, 

223; his administration, 227; jealous 

of Silas Wright, 229. 
Polygamy, in platforms, 1, 364, 371, 

405, 419, 430, 442, 466, 475; 2, 111, 

122, 127, 184, 284. 
Pomeroy, Samuel C, nominated for 

President, 1, 442. 
Popular sovereignty, 1, 25S, 280. 
Popular votes for President: in 1S24, 

1, 135; in 1828, 148; in 1S32, 163; in 

1836, 185; in 1840, 203; in 1844, 223; 



INDEX 



391 



in 1848, 243; in 1852, 257; in 1856, 
276; in 1860, 297 in 1864, 307; in 1868, 
328; in 1872, 352; in 1876,- 383; in 
1880, 417; in 1884, 448; in 1888, 483; 
in 1892, 517; in 1896, 567; in 1900, 2, 
757 m 1904, 137; in 1908, 208; in 1912, 
302. 

Populists. See People's party. 

Populists in the Senate, their attitude 
on the tariff of 1897, 2, 7. 

Porto Rico, policy respecting, 2, 24 
(note), 26, 28, 47, 58, 62, 67, 68, 70, 
105, 122, 149, 177, 195, 252. 

Postal Savings Banks, advocated in 
platforms, 2, 33, 40, 116, 159, 173, 
191, 197. 

Powers of the President, prescribed 
in the Constitution, 2, 308; the power 
of appointment and removal, 309; 
the power to fill vacancies, 317; the 
veto power, 319; the power over legis- 
lation, 325. 

President of the United States, 
method of election, 1, 2-9; 68, 71, 77- 
82; 121, 140, 358, 3y4; proposed elec- 
tion of, by direct popular vote, 1, 3, 
13, 154, 300, 358, 365, 394, 396, 397, 
431, 442, 531, 553; 2, 43, 282, 365; term 
of office, 1, 9, 153, 395 ^eligibility for 
reelection, 1, 1, 2(J)153, 221, 300, 337, 
343, 395, 513; 2, 263, 284, 371; third 
term, 1, 360, 402, 546; 2, 139, 235; 
resignation of, 1, 38; special elections, 
in case of vacancy, 1, 37, 395; succes- 
sion to the office, 1, 37, 450; personal 
protection of, 2, 87. 

Presidential primaries, 2, 239, 263,289. 

Preston, James W., 2, 271. 

Preston, Martin B., nominated for 
President, 2, 182. 

Primary elections, in platforms, 2, 
132, 239, 263, 289. 

Proctor, Red field, his report on condi- 
tions in Cuba, 2, 15. 

Progressive party, 2, 285; convention 
of 1912, 288; of 1916, 346. 

Prohibition party, convention of 1872, 
1, 339; of 1876, 364; of 1880, 411; of 
1884, 441, 442; of 1888, 465; of 1892, 
505; of 1896, 529; of 1900, 2, 51; of 
1904, 109; of 1908, 197; of 1912, 284; 
of 1916, 367. 

Protection, of American industry (see 
Tariff); of American citizens abroad, 



2, 50, 108, 122, 176, 193, 205, 251, 270, 

297, 340, 342, 346. 
Public debt, in platforms, 1, 303, 316, 

319, 322, 370, 409, 422, 462. 
Publicity, of campaign contributions, 

in platforms, 2, 149, 180, 188, 201, 

223, 250, 263. 
Public lands. See Land, public. 
Pure Food Law, 2, 149, 277. 

Radical Republicans, convention of 

1864, 1, 299. 

Railroads, and grants to (see Land, 
public) ; regulation of, or public owner- 
ship, in platforms, 1, 337, 364, 410, 
422, 425, 430, 461, 474, 506, 512, 513, 
531, 540, 552; 2, 117, 159, 174, 189, 
264, 280, 365; control by the govern- 
ment, 2, 33, 36, 40, 61, 67, 132, 190, 
202, 254; Act of 1910, 222. 

Randall, Samuel J., 1, 415. 

Randolph, Edmund, plan for an Exec- 
utive,, 1, 2. 

Randolph, John, opposition to Jeffer- 
son, 1, 87; stickler for the privileges of 
the House, 95; on the count of the 
Missouri vote, in 1821, 119, 120. 

Readjusters, of Virginia, 1, 417. 

Reannexation. See Texas. 

Rebates, by railroads, 2, 150, 174, 189, 
203. 

Recall, of public officers, 2, 36, 43, 116, 
160, 200, 282, 289, 364. 

Recess, constructive, of the Senate, 2, 
318. 

Reciprocity, in platforms, 1, 490, 495, 
500, 534; 2, 48, 107, 123, 130; advo- 
cated by President McKinley, 83, 84; 
with Canada, 152, 229. 

Reconstruction, after the Civil War, 

1, 301, 308, 313, 318, 333. 
Red bandanna, 1, 472. 

Reed, Thomas B., Speaker, and the 
rules of the House, 1, 487; votes for, 
as candidate for President, 1892, 497, 
in the canvass of 1896, 527; votes fori 
as candidate for President, 538; 
elected Speaker of the 55th Congress; 

2, 4; opposed to the Philippine policy, 
32; prevents passage of free silver bill, 
224. 

Reed, Whitelaw, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 498; popular and elec- 
toral votes for, 517. 



392 



INDEX 



Referendum, in politics and platforms, 
1, 513; 2, 34, 36, 43, 66, 116, 132, 160, 
168, 200, 282, 285, 289, 364. 

Reimer, Arthur E., nominated for 
President in 1912, 2, 276; in 1916, 339. 

Rejection of electoral votes. See 
Electoral votes. 

Removal of deposits, from the Bank 
of the United States, 1, 178. 

Removals from office, in platforms. 
See Civil Service reform, power of the 
President discussed, 2, 309. 

Republican party, creation of the, 1, 
260; convention of 1856, 269; of 1860, 
290; of 1864, 301; of 1868, 318; of 
1872, 345; of 1876, 368; of 1880, 402; 
of 1884, 427; of 1888,472; of 1892, 494; 
of 1896, 532; of 1900, 2, 45; of 1904, 
104; of 1908, 169; of 1912, 240; of 1916, 
346. 

Republican party (Jeffersonian, first 
known as Anti-Federalist), nominates 
Jefferson and Burr, in 1796, 1, 44; its 
victory in 1800, 63. See Democratic 
party. 

Resignation of President. See Presi- 
dent. 

Resumption of specie payments, in 
platforms, 1, 333, 343, 366, 370, 372, 
375, 376, 379, 401. 

Returns of electors. See Electoral sys- 
tem. 

Rhode Island, an elector of, objected 
to in 1877, 1, 391. 

Riddle, Haywood Y., proposes an 
amendment to the Constitution, 1, 
396. 

Rives, William C, 1, 182, 195 (note), 
289. 

Rodney, Daniel, votes for, as Vice- 
President, in 1820, 1, 121. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, Governor of 
New York, 2, 45; nominated for Vice- 
President, 51; in the canvass of 1900, 
73; elected, 74; succeeds President 
McKinley, 86; acts to end the coal 
strike, in 1902, 93; nominated for 
reelection, 109; elected, 137; not a 
candidate for a third term, 139, 140; 
characteristics of his second adminis- 
tration, 141; initiates movement to 
end the Russo-Japanese War, 147; the 
attempt to stampede the convention 
of 1908 in his favor, 178, 216; his 



earnestness in advocating the nomina- 
tion of Taft, 216; return from Africa, 
225; in the New York campaign of 
1910, 227; his third-term theory, 235; 
becomes a candidate for the Republi- 
can nomination, 236; advises his sup- 
porters to withdraw from the conven- 
tion, 245; votes for, in the Republican 
convention of 1912, 253; nominated 
by the Progressives, 298; popular and 
electoral votes for, 302; his theory of a 
" constructive recess " of the Senate, 
317; his power over legislation, 328; 
nominated for President in 1916, and 
declined, 346. 

Root, Elihu, 2, 104, 146, 155, 177, 242. 

Ross, James, votes for, as Vice-Presi- 
dent, in 1816, 1, 112. 

Rule of Reason, 2, 233. 

" Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion," 
1, 447. 

Rural credits, in platforms, 2, 265, 291, 
344, 348, 356. 

Rush, Richard, votes for, as Vice- 
President, in 1820, 1, 118, 121; nomi- 
nated in 1828, 146;. votes for, 149. 

Russell, John, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 340. 

Russo-Japanese War, 2, 147. 

Rutledge, John, votes for, in 1789, 1, 
27. 

Sackville, Lord, British ambassador, 

1,482. 

St. John, John P., nominated for 
President, 1, 446; popular votes for, 
448. 

Samoa, 2, 50. 

Sampson, Ezekiel S., proposes an 
amendment to the Constitution, 1, 396. 

Sanford, Nathan, proposes an amend- 
ment to the Constitution, 1, 122; 
votes for, as Vice-President, in 1824, 
140. 

Santo Domingo, proposed annexa- 
tion of, 1, 333; relations with, 2, 145. 

" Scallawags," 1, 357. 

Schools, public, in platforms, 1, 364, 
371, 475, 502, 507, 514, 531, 540. 

Scott, Winfield, votes for, in Whig 
convention, in 1848, 1, 237; in can- 
vass of 1852, 247; nominated for 
President, 251; popular and electoral 
votes for, 257. 



INDEX 



393 



Seal fishery, 2, 223. 

Receded States, electoral votes of, re- 
jected, 1, 309, 329. 

Secession, 1, 298. 

Seidel Emil, nominated for Vice-Presi- 
dent, 2, 283. 

Senate, abolition of the, advocated by 
Socialists, 1, 541; 2, 168, 282, 365. 

Senators, United States, election of, by- 
popular vote, 1, 513, 531, 553; 2, 34, 
38, 43, 62, 65, 112, 180, 193, 197, 205, 
262, 284, 298. 

Sergeant, John, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 157. 

Sewall, Arthur, nominated for Vice- 
President, by the Democrats, 1, 549; 
votes for, in the Populist convention, 
554; nominated by the National Sil- 
ver party, 557; popular votes for, 567; 
electoral votes, 568. 

Seward, William H., his relations with 
Taylor and Fillmore, 1, 247; in the 
canvass, of 1856, 270; in the canvass of 
1860, 290, 294. 

Seymour, Horatio, 1, 304, 305, 321; 
nominated for President, 326; his 
political position, 327; popular and 
electoral votes for, 328; in the canvass 
of 1880, 412, 415. 

Sheldon, George L„ 2, 181. 

Sherman, James S., nominated for 
Vice-President, 2, 181; elected, 208; 
in the New York canvass of 1910, 227; 
nominated for reelection, 254. 

Sherman, John, 1, 402, 407, 408, 427, 
432, 478, 479. 

Sherman Silver Purchase Act, 1, 490, 
501, 521; repealed, 522. 

Sherman Trust Act. See Trusts. 

Ship-purchase Bill, 2, 344, 352. 

Ship subsidies, 2, 49, 63, 107, 122, 177, 
251, 268, 344, 369. 

Silver question, the, in politics and 
platforms, 1, 366, 368, 401, 409, 413, 
430, 437, 462, 475, 490, 494, 495, 501, 
506, 508, 511, 521, 526, 529, 531, 532, 
535, 537, 541, 543, 547, 551, 555, 559. 

Silver Republicans, their attitude on 
the tariff, in 1897, 2, 6; convention of 
1900, 64. 

Single term, for the President, 2, 263, 
284. 

Slavery, in politics and platforms, 1, 
115, 200, 202, 216, 226, 236, 239, 249, 



252, 254, 258, 262, 266, 271, 273, 279, 
283, 287, 292, 299, 300, 302. 

Smith, Gerrit, nominated for Presi- 
dent, 1, 232. 

Smith, Green Clay, nominated for 
President, 1, 364. 

Smith, William, votes for, as Vice- 
President, in 1828, 1, 149; in 1836, 188. 

Socialist Labor party, convention of 
1892, 1, 513; of 1896, 538; of 1900, 2, 
44; of 1904, 112; of 1908, 181; of 1912, 
272; of 1916, 339. 

Socialist party, convention of 1900, 2, 
34; of 1904, 97; of 1908, 161; of 1912, 
276; of 1916, 360. 

** Softs," Democratic faction, in New 
*U>rJr, 1, 264, 282. 

Soldiers' vote, in 1864, 1, 307. 

" Solid South," 1, 105, 406, 447. 

South Carolina, appointment of elec- 
tors by the legislature, 1, 148, 164; 
abandons the system, 327; vote of 
1876 disputed, 381, 391. 

South Dakota, admitted to the Union, 

1, 487. 

Southgate, James H., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1, 532. 

Spain, relations with, 1, 520, 536; war 
with in 1898, 2, 8, et seq.; war de- 
clared, 20; peace restored, 21. 

Speaker of the House, power of the, 

2, 187, 224. 

Special elections of President. See 
President. 

Specie circular, Jackson's, 1, 179. 

Specie payments, resumption of. See 
Resumption. 

Spoils system. See Civil Service reform. 

Springer, William M ., 1, 395. 

" Squatter sovereignty." See Popu- 
lar sovereignty. 

" Stalwarts," a faction of the Republi- 
can party, 1, 419. 

Stampede, in political conventions, 
rules for the prevention of, 1, 174, 369, 
468; for Roosevelt, attempted, 2, 170. 

Standard Oil Company, 2, 151 ; disso- 
lution of, 232, 262. 

" Stand-patters," 2, 152. 

Stanton, Edwin M., contest with 
President Johnson, 1, 315, 405, 430. 

Star-route frauds, 1, 419. 

State rights, in platforms, 1, 75, 106, 
180. 



394 



INDEX 



" Steam-roller," 2, 242. 

Stevenson, Adlai E., nominated for 

Vice-President, 1, 505; elected, 517; 
again a candidate in 1800, 2, 64; popu- 
lar and electoral votes for, 75. 

Stewart, G. T., nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 364. 

Stockton, Richard, votes for, as Vice- 
President, in 1820, 1, 121. 

Story, Joseph, on removals from office, 
2, 310. 

Streeter, A. J., nominated for Presi- 
dent, 1, 463; popular votes for, 483. 

Subsidies. See Ship subsidies. 

Succession to the Presidency. See 
President. 

Sulzer, William, 2, 258, 271. 

Sumner, Charles, 1, 270; opposes 
Grant, 334. 

Supreme Court, decisions by, relative 
to the Philippines and Porto Rico, 
2, 78; introduces the " rule of rea- 
son," 233; abolition of its power to 
pronounce acts unconstitutional, ad- 
vocated, 282, 365. 

Swallow, Silas C, nominated for Presi- 
dent, 2, 112. 

Taft, William H„ 2, 156, 169; nomi- 
nated for President, 180; elected, 208; 
inaugurated, 212; photographed with 
Roosevelt, 214; difficulties of his ad- 
ministration, 232; nominated for re- 
election, 253; popular and electoral 
votes for, 302. 

Tammany Hall, its influence in na- 
tional politics, 1, 228, 363, 412, 433, 
446, 515; 2, 260. 

Tariff, the, in politics and platforms, 1, 
108, 115, 143, 154, 158, 200, 220, 227, 
252, 268, 293, 336, 343, 347, 350, 371, 
376, 405, 416, 419, 423, 426, 429, 436, 
442, 444, 458, 466, 467, 473, 480, 489, 
494, 499, 504, 506, 508, 523, 531, 533, 
544, 558; 2, 2, 6, 7, 41, 46, 61, 66, 69, 
72, 105, 107, 111, 162, 172, 180, 189, 
203, 218, 248, 260, 281, 285, 296, 343, 
349, 350, 351. 

Tariff Commission, of 1882, 1, 419; of 
1909, 2, 220, 249; a, advocated, in 
platforms, 343, 349, 351. 

Taylor, George E., nominated for 
President, 2, 127. 

Taylor, Zachary, movement in his 



favor, 1, 230; recommended by Na- 
tive-Americans, 231; nominated for 
President, by Whig party, 237; elected, 
243; his conduct in office, 244; dies in 
office, 246. 
Tazewell, Littleton W., Democratic 
candidate (not nominated) for Vice- 
President, in 1840, 1, 199; electoral 
votes for, 204. 
Telegraphs and telephones, control 
of, by government, in platforms, 1, 
506, 512, 531, 540, 553; 2, 33, 36, 43, 
117, 159, 167, 280, 365. 
Telfair, Edward, votes for, in 1789, 1, 

27. 
" Teller " amendment, to the resolu- 
tion declaring war with Spain, 2, 19. 
Teller, Henry M., 1, 537, 538; votes 

for, as candidate for President, 549. 

Tennessee, admitted to the Union, 1, 

47; its legislature nominates Jackson, 

144; its vote not counted in 1864, 311. 

Tenure of Office Act, 1, 315, 457; 2, 

313. 
Texas, annexation of, 1, 209, 215, 226, 
227; admitted to the Union, 242; vote 
of, in 1872, objected to, 354. 
Thompson, A. M., nominated for 

Vice-President, 1, 411. 
Thurman, Allen G., 1, 379, 387, 415, 
423, 440; his red bandanna, 473; nomi- 
nated for Vice-President, 472; popular 
and electoral votes for, 354. 
Tibbies, Thomas H., nominated for 

Vice-President, 2, 117. 
Tilden, Samuel J., 1, 363, 374; nomi- 
nated for President, 379; popular 
votes for, 383; electoral votes for, 392; 
in the canvass of 1880, 411, 415; in the 
canvass of 1884, 439. 
Tippecanoe, the hero of, 1, 196. 
Tobacco " trust," dissolution of the, 

2, 252, 262. 
Tompkins, Daniel D., proposed for 
President, 1, 109; nominated for Vice- 
President, 110; elected, 112; reelected, 
121. 
Towne, Charles A., refuses Populist 
nomination as candidate for Vice- 
President, 2, 39; votes for, in Demo- 
cratic convention, 1900, 196. 
Treasury circular, Jackson's, 1, 179. 
Treaty of Paris, restoring peace with 
Spain, 2, 26; ratified, 28. 



INDEX 



395 



Trusts, in politics and platforms, 1, 463, 
466, 474, 496, 500 507, 545; 2, 33, 35, 
43, 48, 60, 66, 104, 106, 111, 115, 120, 
149, 151, 169, 173, 180, 203, 248, 261, 
292; tariff on articles controlled by, 
2, 6, 41, 61, 66, 189. 

Tweed ring, 1, 329, 363. 

Twenty-second joint rule. See Elec- 
toral votes. 

Two- thirds rule, in Democratic con- 
ventions, 1, 161, 175, 182, 212, 233, 
284, 286, 288, 433. 

Tyler, Jobn, favors a caucus nomina- 
tion, in 1824, 1, 128; nominated for 
Vice-President, 1836, 183; electoral 
votes for, 188; nominated by Whigs, 
1840, 195; elected, 204; becomes Presi- 
dent, 207; his breach with the Whigs, 
207; nominated for reelection and 
withdraws, 221. 

Underwood, Oscar W., 2, 255, 259. 
Union Labor party, convention of 

1888, 1, 460. 
Union Reform party, convention of 

1900, 2, 36. 
Unit rule, in conventions, 1, 173, 374, 

403, 433; 2, 244, 256. 
United Americans, order of, 1, 259. 
United Christian party, convention 

of 1900, 2, 37; of 1904, 103. 
United Labor party, convention of 

1888, 1, 463. 
Utah, Territory of, 1, 246; fusion in the 

State of, and its divided vote, 563, 567, 

568. 

Vacancies in office, during the recess of 
the Senate, 2, 317. 

Van Buren, Martin, his first appearance 
in politics, 1, 100; in the caucus of 
1824, 131; votes for, as Vice-President, 
in 1824, 140; political mission to the 
South, 144; rejected as minister to 
England, 155; nominated for Vice- 
President, 161; elected, 164; nomi- 
nated for President, 182; popular 
votes for, 185; electoral votes for, 188; 
his administration, 188; estimate of 
his character, 190; his opposition to 
banks, 192; nominated for reelection, 
201; popular votes for, 203; electoral 
votes, 204; the Democratic favorite 
for 1844, 206; his letter on Texas, 210; 



defeated for nomination by the two- 
thirds rule, 212; 213; praised by the 
Democratic convention, 216; nomi- 
nated by the " Barnburners," 1848, 
238; by the Free-soilers, 239; popular 
votes for, 243. 

Venezuela, President Cleveland's ac- 
tion, 1, 520; other references, 2, 82, 
144. 

Vermont, admitted to the Union, 1, 38; 
disputed validity of its votes, 52; its 
electoral vote in 1876, 391. 

Veto, " pocket," 1, 179; 2, 322, 324; 
President Johnson's vetoes, 1, 315; 2, 
324; President Cleveland's, 1, 458; 
2, 324; power of the President dis- 
cussed, 319; abolition of the power 
advocated in platforms, 1, 541; 2, 282. 

Vice-President, the office of, suggested, 
1, 7; abolition of the office proposed, 
79; method of electing, changed, 80; 
Richard M. Johnson elected by the 
Senate, 187. 

Virginia, adopts general ticket system 
in 1800,1, 60; the " Virginia dynasty," 
89, 106. 

Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, 
of 1788 and 1789, 1, 57, 249, 267. 

Voorhees, Daniel W., 1, 305, 522. 

Wage system, denounced by Socialist 
parties, 2, 35, 100, 103, 113, 163, 272, 
277, 339. 

Wakefield, W. H. T., nominated for 

Vice-President, 1, 465. 

War Democrats, 1, 298, 306, 356. 

War of 1812, 1, 98, 108. 

Washington, Booker T., his luncheon 
with President Roosevelt, 2, 86. 

Washington, George, universal choice 
for first President, 1, 24, acquiesces 
in the selection of Adams for Vice- 
President, 25; electoral votes, 1789, 
27; his inauguration, 30; reelected in 
1792, 39; second inauguration, 41; de- 
clines a third term, 44; his farewell 
address, 45; votes for, in 1796, 51; at- 
tempt to elect him in 1800, 58; his 
sparing use of the veto, 2, 321. 

Washington, State of, admitted to the 
Union, 1, 487. 

Watkins, Aaron S., nominated for 
Vice-President, in 1908, 2, 198; in 
1912, 285. 



INDEX 



Watson, Thomas E., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1* 554; his position 
in the canvass of 1896, 562» 564; popu- 
lar votes for, 567; electoral votes for, 
568; nominated for President, in 1904, 
2, 117; in 1908, 161. 

Watterson, Henry, 1, 505. 

Weaver, James B., nominated for 
President, 1880, 1, 411; popular votes 
for, 417; again nominated, 1892, 513; 
popular and electoral votes for, 517. 

Webster, Daniel, elector for Monroe, in 
1820, 1, 118; nominated by legislature 
for President, 1836, 183; popular votes 
for, 185; electoral votes, 188; in the 
canvass of 1848, 230; votes for in 
Whig convention, 237; the compro- 
mises of 1850, 245; in the canvass of 
1852, 247; unsuccessful manoeuvre 
to nominate him, 250; popular votes 
for, 257. 

West, A. M., nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 427. 

West Virginia, the State of, formed 
from Virginia, 1, 308. 

Weyler, General, Spanish Governor- 
General of Cuba, 2, 13. 

Wheeler, William A., nominated for 
Vice-President, 1, 373; elected, 393. 

Whig party, origin of, 1, 179; attitude 
of, on the bank question, 184, 192; 
convention of 1839, 193; disclaims re- 
sponsibility for Tyler's acts, 207; con- 
vention of 1844, 220; of 1848, 237; of 
1852, 250; moribund after the election 
of 1852, 258; convention of 1856, 273. 

Whiskey insurrection, 1, 42. 

Whiskey ring, 1, 357, 363. 

White, Edward D., Chief Justice, 2, 
229, 304. 

White, Hugh L., nominated for Presi- 
dent, 1, 183; popular votes for, 185; 
electoral votes, 188. 

" White slavery," 3, 222. 



Wilklns, William, nominated for Vice- 
President, 1, 160; electoral votes for, 
164. 

Williams, James S., 2, 126. 

Williams, John S., 3, 118, 125, 134. 

Williams, Samuel W., nominated for 
Vice-President, 2, 161. 

Wilmot proviso, 1, 230. 

Wilson-Gorman tariff, 1, 524; 2, 2. 

Wilson, Henry, 1, 318, 321, 345; nomi- 
nated for Vice-President, 348; elected, 
352. 

Wilson, James, proposes system of 
election by electors, 1, 4. 

Wilson, Woodrow, his canvass for 
Governor of New Jersey, 2, 228 ; candi- 
date for nomination as President, 255; 
nominated, 259; elected, 302; nomi- 
nated for reelection, 350. 

Wing, Simon, nominated for President, 
1, 513; popular votes for, 517. 

Wirt, William, nominated for Presi- 
dent, 1, 156; electoral votes for, 164. 

Wisconsin, admitted to the Union, 1, 
. 242; disputed electoral votes, in 1857, 
275; in 1877, 391. 

Woman suffrage, in platforms, 1, 340, 
348, 371, 426, 441, 445, 462, 466, 467, 
506, 514, 530, 536; 2, 36, 38, 167, 198, 
281, 284, 289, 345, 364, 367. 

Wood, Fernando, 1, 282. 

Woodford, Stewart L., 2, 12, 15. 

Wool, tariff on, 1, 429, 473, 524, 534. 

Woolley, John G., nominated for 
President, 2, 56. 

Wright, Silas, nominated for Vice- 
President, and declines, 1, 213; war 
upon him, in New York, 229; dies, 
230. 

Wyoming, State of, admitted to the 
Union, 1, 518. 

Yancey, William L., resolution offered 
by, 1, 236. 



































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